


A Wicked Halloween

by Dragonraptor



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Blue Corn Moon, F/F, F/M, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Multi, Spells & Enchantments, halloween party, many cameos and references - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2018-11-21 08:03:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 38,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11353275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonraptor/pseuds/Dragonraptor
Summary: Halloween is here. This year it brings with it the famous Blue Corn Moon, a party in a museum and a certain prophecy-related danger. And in the midst of it all, Mal and Evie start to understand the feelings they have for each other.





	1. Halloween Night and a Jungle for a Gym

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea a couple of weeks ago. I hope you guys enjoy it!

"I look ridiculous." Mal complained as she left the bathroom.

     Evie smiled to herself as she finished applying her makeup. She glanced quickly at Mal and turned back to her mirror, mainly so that her friend couldn't see her blushing at the sight.

     "You look sexy." She teased.

     "Kill me now."

     Evie adjusted her mirror so she could look at Mal from where she sat. Tonight was the school's Halloween party. And as it happens in any costume party there was always that pain of choosing the right costume (or so Evie was told, there weren't things like that in the Isle). One night, a couple of weeks ago, Evie, Mal and a couple of friends had been playing poker and for some reason they started talking about costumes and Jay proposed that the others would choose the costume of the first that lost.

And now Mal was a belly dancer.

     Normally Evie didn't like to see her best friend losing, or being humiliated for that matter - she always felt as if an iron fist suddenly started strangling her heart. But she had to admit that Mal was absolutely gorgeous. Evie herself had made the fantasy for her. Why? Three reasons: 1) Evie liked making clothes; 2) She felt guilty; and 3) Evie knew perfectly well that the boys or Audrey would've picked a much skimpier outfit for Mal and that Evie could not and would not tolerate. Though in all fairness, Mal had said she would make Jay go as Tarzan, but that's by the by. It was quite simple, really. She had taken Mal's genie clothes and simply cut it around the midriff. Then she found a longer skirt, purple with Egyptian hieroglyphs in gold swirling around the fabric.

     Somewhere behind her, Mal released a sad sight that all but broke Evie's heart.

     "Mal," Evie started as she got up. "If you don't wanna go out like that I can always -"

     "No," She said adamantly. "I lost and this was the agreement.

     Translation: _I'm planning a much worse revenge on them and I don't want there to be a precedent for chickening out_. That was perhaps Evie's reason number 4 for helping Mal. There was also a fifth reason but Evie preferred not to dwell on it.

     "If you are sure..."

     "I am." Mal said. She picked up her spell book and sat cross-legged on her bed.

     Evie just shrugged, there was no point in arguing, and turned to the bigger mirror they had. She was going as a gorgon and had also made the costume. It was a long blue chiton with golden Greek patterns on the hem, sleeves and neck. It was tied by a snake shaped belt that clasped by biting its own tail at her waist. She wore a bronze torc around the neck with serpents for terminals facing each other at the front and a golden snake armlet coiled around her right upper arm.

     "Hmmm." She mused letting her hands roam around her body as she gave herself a criticizing look. She bit her lower lip. _Maybe I should tighten the belt a bit._

     "Stop it." Mal said from the bed and Evie could feel the weight of her roommate's glare.

     "What?" She asked innocently.

     "You know very well." Mal said, her voice somewhere between annoyed and exasperated. She crossed the room and cradled Evie's shoulders. "You are not hideous, E." She said, resting her chin over one shoulder. "Not even a little bit."

     Evie blushed at the touch and compliment, giving Mal a lazy smiled. It only got worse when their eyes met in the mirror. Mal seemed the only being on Earth to have that effect on her.

     "And besides," Mal smiled wickedly, her eyes glowing green. "I'm going to make you hideous, anyway."

     Evie gulped and turned to Mal.

     "M, are you sure -"

     "Shhh." Mal pressed a finger against Evie's lips, her eyes locked down on her spell book. "Trust me."

     It took a lot of willpower for Evie not to bite Mal's finger.

     "You did transform the gym into a rainforest this morning... and can't make it turn back."

     Mal ignored her.

     "Ready?"

     "No."

     "Beautiful hair, beautiful hair, give this girl snakes for hair!"

     Evie closed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact. Nothing. See, that was the funny thing about spells: sometimes they hit you like a speed train, sometimes you didn't feel them at all. Naturally, it might not have worked at all but Evie doubted it. Mal had no trouble with casting spells - it was reverting them that gave her headaches. And if this one worked out, it might just give Evie a large one, as well. She was starting to suspect that indeed the spell had failed but then she heard a bunch of hisses close to her ears. Evie's eyes flew open, she turned so quickly that she nearly knocked Mal over. The mirror confirmed what she knew, the spell had worked. Instead of her blue locks, Evie now had cobalt blue snakes for hair. Dozens and dozens of blue snakes; thin and fat, long and short. She lifted her hand to pet one and it didn't bite her, rather it stuck out its forked tongue like a dog and panted at the touch. She turned back to look at a smirking Mal.

     "I stand corrected." She said. "Not even snakes on your head can turn you hideous."

     "Thanks, I guess?"

     Mal coughed awkwardly. "Right, we should get going to the party."

     Without a second look, Mal marched off to the door. Evie couldn't help but tilt her head as she watched Mal walk. Normally her movements were determined and graceful but today they were a bit... rigid. _Oh, she's nervous_ , Evie realized with another stab of guilt, _we never should've done that stupid bet_. Mal would never admit it, though. Maybe Evie could try to draw more attention to her tonight, certainly the snakes would help; or maybe she could threaten people not to comment or stare. Just then, Evie remembered that she had prepared something for this kind of situation.

     "Mal, wait!" She called. "I also made you this."

     Evie produced from her wardrobe a long green shawl with purple fringes. She skipped through the room and happily drabbed it around Mal's neck.

     "What is this for?" Mal asked, tracing her fingers through the silk to fidget at the fringes. Evie knew she would like those - sometimes Mal remembered her of a cat.

     "Well, I imagined you might feel uncomfortable of showing off too much skin," _Though I don't know why, you have a lovely stomach._ "so I made this for you," Evie crossed the shawl over Mal's exposed belly. "I thought this might help you have a better time."

     For about five heartbeats, Mal just stared at her. Suddenly, she lunged forward and hugged Evie, placing one kiss on her cheek. Evie had the impression that even her snakes were turning red.

     "You're the best, E!" She shouted. Then made a more serious face and punched Evie's shoulder. "Er... I mean, thanks."

     Evie nodded as she rubbed her arm and did her best to stop blushing.

     "You're welcome, that's what _bestiends_ are for, right?"

     "Right... _Bestiends_ means best friends, doesn't it?"

     "Yep."

     "You seriously have to stop with that."

     "What?" Evie asked innocently. "Come on, Mal, we are going to be late!"

     They found the boys waiting for them by the gym massive doors. They were ridiculously ornamented for a pair of gym doors but before being turned into a gym it _had_ been a ball room. Ben was studying the little Amazon forest, a frown on his face. He was dressed as a sheriff from the Old West... actually, he looked suspiciously like Woody from Toy Story. The reddish-brown hat looked amazing, maybe she would buy one for her - or ask Jay to steal one, that worked too. Technically it wouldn't be stealing, just society paying Evie back her due. The Crown _had_ technically stolen her mother's gold since Snow White hadn't bothered claiming it after the Evil Queen died, which in theory meant that Evie was the heiress of that treasure. Ben had promised to deal with the subject but until he did, Evie guessed she would just have to keep getting free stuff. Also, it helped pressurise the young king to get it done with already. What? She was still rotten - partially, at least - an anti-hero, actually. Nobody complained about Deadpool or Harley Quinn or Robin Hood... Wait, people did complain about them... Oh, well, c'est la vie.

     "You know," Ben said when he noticed them approaching. "For the record, there are better ways to escape having gym class. Nice hair by the way, Evie."

     "Thanks." Evie said patting her snakes.

     "You said Mr. Tigger couldn't suffer an accident." Mal shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, it didn't work."

     "Yeah," Freddie chimed in, jumping from the shadows. Of course she would be hiding in the shadows. She was dressed like Calypso. "It actually made things _worse_. Thanks a lot Mal."

     Evie shuddered just thinking about it. In hindsight, they should've guessed that a tiger wouldn't have a problem giving classes in a jungle. They had spent the morning running between trees, jumping over roots and ducking under low branches; swinging from vines and surfing branches. Then they had to flee an army of black panthers, swim away from crocodiles, play dodgeball with monkeys (whom _did not_ use balls - she rather not recall _what_ they used though she had to throw her gym clothes away after she got hit). And then there had been the giant carnivorous plants and the giant spiders... Seriously, how had all of _that_ fitted inside the gym, Evie would never understand. Mal said it was a Tardis Effect, whatever that was. All the while Mr. Tigger had just bounced around happily.

     "Don't worry!" He had sang all the while (he had actually sang a song about jungles during most of their perils). "Just careful with the Heffalumps and Woozles, those are very dangerous!"

     If all that wasn't enough, the gang had to later save Mal from getting her head plunged into a dirty toilet by the rest of the angry students, who ganged up on her after the class. So, yeah, Evie needed a bit of fun after today... and a drink, though it was ridiculously hard to get one at her age in Auradon; back in the Isle all she had to do was either go to the fridge or go to Scarmart. Luckily, Samirah (one of Aladdin's kids) knew a guy or two and Ben was no snitch.

     "Luckily the museum agreed to let us use their Caesar Room," Ben said. "It is actually bigger than any of ours... we just have to be careful because they are also holding their Gods of Old exposition there too."

     That made Evie nearly jump in glee. She had been wanting to visit that exposition for _ages_. They had, like, this awesome collection of relics from the gods or god-like entities; some were so rare Evie didn't even know how they managed to get them. Arawn's Black Cauldron, Poseidon's favourite trident and the Dead Man's Chest, to name a few.

     "I'm just surprised they allowed us in such short notice." Carlos said and Dude barked in agreement.

     De Vil had dressed up as a werewolf, more cute than scary, and Dude was... Evie genuinely didn't know. Carlos had put antlers on him, fake wings and a bunny's tail. A jackalope? No, no, those didn't have wings.

     Ben shrugged, leaning against one of the doors. "Preston B. Whitmore is the museum's main donor and his great-grandson study's here. You know him, right Mal? Charlie Whitmore, he has all his classes with you."

     "Eccentric, hair that sticks out like wings, uses a big junk of crystal around his neck and walks around with a cane?" Ben nodded. "Yeah, he is crazy, I like that."

     _Also_ , Evie might've added, _he tried to help you earlier_. She had a very clear memory of Charlie Whitmore waving his cane and trying to calm the others down as they dragged Mal to the boy's bathroom. Evie also remembered that he was one of the few who had fun in the jungle today; she had a particular memory of him swinging on the vines and imitating Tarzan.

     "Right," Mal clapped. Evie couldn't help but flinch in surprise as her snakes snapped close to her eyes in annoyance. "Sorry," Mal apologized. "Anyway, what are we waiting for?"

     "Captain Scotland." Jay answered. He was dressed like a knight; he held his helmet under one arm, had a sword pending at his left side and a heater shield resting by his feet. The shield displayed a cobra, red and gold. Much to Evie's surprise he wore a red velvet cloak trimmed with gold. Jay actually looked dignified and honourable and... _knightly_. Oh, Jafar would be smouldering right now if could see this.

     Evie raised an eyebrow. "Mallory?"

     Almost as if waiting for her to be mentioned, Mallory stepped out of the gym, Skadi besides her.

     "You called?" She asked with that heavy Scottish accent of hers.

     Looking at her, Evie got what Jay meant with 'Captain Scotland'. Mallory was fantasised as a pirate - with a Scottish spice, of course. It was mainly scarlet and looked suspiciously like a Captain Jack Sparrow costume but with a dark turquoise and scarlet tartan sash. The hat was wide and scarlet with three peacock feathers and the overcoat dyed dark turquoise. From under her hat poured curly hair like liquid flame and bright blue eyes that never seemed to miss their target. She looked a lot like her aunt, Queen Merida, but taller. Princess Mallory was Prince Hamish's daughter and the second in line for the throne of DunBroch. Technically, Queen Merida was the first, not Prince Hamish, but then she married Queen Elsa and the clansmen weren't a bit happy about being ruled from Arendelle. Elsa would've moved but then the Arendellelans... Arendellenese, Arendellelians, Arendellelish, Arendelleli...? Oh, screw it, the people of Arendelle weren't a bit happy either to be ruled from the Scottish Highlands. Especially when they discovered how the Clans did their politics (Anna was particularly animated to adopt the style back home). Obs: the Isle also used the brawl technique and Mal and Jay had been trying to convince Ben to adopt it. Anyway, so Merida abdicated. Evie would hardly call it a loss though, like, she got a hot wife (no pun intended) and still got to be queen. Some people were just damn lucky like that.

     Yes, Evie was good in History too... and gossip. Don't judge. What is History if not old gossip?

     Speaking of Queen Elsa and Arendelle, Princess Skadi was Anna's and Kristoff's daughter. She also shared a remarkable resemblance to her aunt up to having ice powers. She was dressed like a Valkyrie - no, the armour was not made of ice but of leather and steel. The silver diadem she wore had silver wings sprouting from them, beautifully and complexly woven in Norse knots. Much to her marvel, Evie realized that the chainmail followed the pattern and her breastplate was decorated with snowflakes, each one a different pattern. The chainmail went all the way to her knees, with an opening at the sides of her legs for movement, and her legs were clad in cream leather leggings that matched her fur trimmed high combat boots. Each forearm was protected by steel bracers inlaid with gold in the same knot patterns. To crown it all was a floor sweeping cloak of pure white feathers.

     Evie realized she must've been staring and quickly averted her eyes, only to meet Mal glaring at her. Evie tilted her head in confusion, silently asking what was wrong to Mal - it was one of the body languages they had developed over the years as friends. Mal, though, quickly avoided her gaze. Evie frowned but didn't ask. She didn't fail to realize that Mal's shoulders had become very tense, though.

     "What were you guys doing in there?" Mal asked in a slightly harsh voice. Auradonians considered Mal's voice as harsh so nobody raised an eyebrow - save Freddie, Jay and Carlos - okay half the people in the room didn't raise an eyebrow at Mal's tone.

     Mallory shrugged. "Just checking the jungle one last time."

     Yes, Evie also remembered Mallory having the time of her life back there. Even managed to ride one of the crocodiles.

     "I was just making sure she didn't get lost." Skadi said.

     Jay coughed into his fist. "Can we go now? Because, like, the party started an hour ago."

     "Are we the last?" Mal asked.

     "Yep," Ben said. He seemed a little uncomfortable at admitting that. "We are late."

     "Nonsense," Evie said, hooking an arm around Mal's waist, immediately feeling the half-fairy relax at the touch. "A king is never late. Everyone else is simply early."

     Ben frowned. "Isn't that from a movie?"

     "No," Evie shook her head. "It's Evie-Wisdom."

     "The best kind of wisdom." Mal muttered.

     Evie looked at her. "What?"

     Mal snapped her head at her, eyes wide open. "What?"

     "You said -"

     "No, I didn't."

     Jay groaned loudly and banged his sword against his shield. "I WANNA GO!"


	2. The Blue Corn Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer than I thought it would but I had a lot of exams last week here in the university.  
> Anyway, two quick things:  
> 1) I changed the museum from the movie a little - okay, a lot, it's more of a cross between the British Museum and the Natural History Museum (the London one) now. I needed more space.  
> 2) Mal's thick - like, very oblivious. I find it cute.
> 
> Also, thank you for the positive feedback!

To put it simply, the party was a dull. But then again, what did they expect when they called it 'The Demigod and Whoever Appears Halloween Party'?

     It didn't help that they had thrown it on Doofenshmirtz's terrace. Of course, that meant they had to invite the mad scientist - which meant Perry was also invited, which in turn meant there was an explosion every ten minutes or so, which was good was one of highlights of the party. At the other side of the city, Percival could see the black and orange lights of Phineas and Ferb's party. They seemed to be having fun.

     "Oh, cheer up, Percy!" Maui said and punched his arm. "You are getting to spend Halloween the best way possible! With _me_ , Maui!"

     The sad part? Maui's annoying ego and boasting was one of the highlights of the party. The moon was also nice tonight as it shone like a giant sapphire light, bathing them in blue. The famous Blue Corn Moon was really a sight, both Percy and Maui had turned into wolves just to howl at it.

     "Shhh the two of you!" Tanana yelled as she looked through the Telescopeinator. "I'm trying to study the moon."

     Okay, so their "demigod" party was basically two demigods (because Hercules hadn't given them the honour of his presence yet), a shaman, a mad scientist and an egg laying mammal with a fedora.

     Suddenly there was an explosion followed by a loud: "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!". The eponymous monotreme calmly strolled by seconds later drinking from a juice box. Percy sighed.

     "Next time we are going to Motunui," He said.

     "Can I go too?" Doofenshmirtz asked appearing at their side covered in ash. Before Percy could answer there was a loud _bing!_ "Oh, my bat cookies are ready!" And he hobbled off.

     "Shhh!" Tanana hissed.

     Of course, Maui could not be silenced so he spent the next thirty minutes or so either telling Percy about his exploits or singing about his exploits. Hercules and Megara decided to show up after the third song.

     "Sorry for being late guys," Hercules said as a way of greeting. "But we had to drop the kids at the museum for their school's Halloween party."

     Tanana frowned. "Why the museum?"

     Meg laughed. "You know Maleficent's kid? Mal? She turned their gym into a rainforest." The girl smirked. "Smart kid."

     "Did you know I planted all the forests in Hawaii?" Maui asked. "You're welcome."

     "I wasn't going to thank you."

     "There's no need," Maui said striking a pose. "I was just being me. You're welcome."

     "Uh... anyway," Hercules scratched his head. "They are doing the party in the Gods of Old exposition and it's so cool guys. They have a bunch of old stuff there, like the Black Cauldron... Oh! And dad even lent his Aegis to them!"

     Meg shuddered. "That thing is terrifying, Wonderboy. But I guess as long as they don't look at it they will be okay."

     Percival felt as if somebody had just punched him the face. He got up abruptly.

     "Wait!" He said.

     Hercules frowned worried. "What is it, Perce?"

     Percy struck his hand out. "Shhh!" There was something tugging painfully at the back of his mind, something very important he felt he should be remembering, like, right now. "It's something important," He mumbled tapping his temples. "Something about the Blue Corn Moon, Halloween, midnight, a prophecy and a cauldron... I think there is something Celtic too..."

     Maui scratched his head with his fishing hook. "Isn't the Blue Corn Moon a Native American thing?"

     "The blue moon can be seen anywhere, Maui," Tanana explained. "Each civilization gave it a different name. My tribe called it the Blue Spirit Moon. The Celts called it Arawn's Moon."

     Percy reared up, the name Arawn connecting all the dots in his head.

     "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Percival yelled as he ran for the rail, jumped over it and turned into a barn owl. He soared silently but quickly through the night sky.

 

     Hercules frowned as he watched the bird fly away. "Does anybody know what all that was about?"

     Everybody shook their heads and mumbled negatives.

     "Shouldn't we go after him?" The son of Zeus asked.

     Meg kissed his cheek. "He is a big boy, Wonderboy. Whatever it is, Percy can deal with it - he is your cousin, after all. Let us just enjoy this... er, party - where is the stereo?"

     Maui laughed. "Who needs stereo when you have Maui?" He pointed at himself with both hands

     Bringing a hand in front of his mouth, he started doing noises and tapping his feet at what he thought was a beat. For some reason he kept doing karate chops with his free hand. If Hercules didn't know better he would think the demigod was trying to rap. Doofenshmirtz appeared out of nowhere and started dancing to the beat. Perry face palmed at the sight.

     "We need new friends," Meg whispered in his ear.

     "A bit of a remix, eh?" Maui asked joyfully.

     Before anybody could protest he turned into a giant lyrebird and started spitting a mixture of car alarm, chainsaw and waves into what seemed a salsa rhythm.

 

     Outside, the moon was the colour of sapphire, bathing the land in a pale blue light. It was quite beautiful, Mal had to admit. She was sitting directly besides one of the windows, with a perfect view to it. Suddenly, Mal felt a weight fall over her. She was about to shove the person off when she saw by the corner of her eye snakes and the scent of Evie filled her nose. She could feel Evie's body press against hers as her princess tried to get a better look out of the window. Mal turned her head sideways and tried to melt into the seat, she pretended it was because she was afraid Evie and her would butt heads otherwise, but it was actually to hide her blush.

     "It's beautiful," Evie breathed.

     Mal felt a smile play on her face, her eyes locked on the dark horizon. _It's your colour, of course it would be beautiful_ , she wanted to say.

     "Blue Corn Moon," Mal blurted out instead.

     "What?" Evie asked as she turned to look at her. Her snakes tilted their tiny heads in silent questioning.

     "The moon," Mal explained. She hesitated when she realized Evie was literally _laying on her_. If Mal had been feeding her grapes it could have been a scene from a Roman mosaic. "Today is the night of the Blue Corn Moon, very rare."

     Outside a wolf howled. Immediately, Mallory, who was sitting opposite to Mal, stuck her head out of the window and howled back.

     "Francis is a real sweetheart." Mallory said as she sat back on her seat.

     Mal barely paid attention to the Scottish pirate girl. Her eyes were gazing lovingly at Evie. In the moonlight the princess' face seemed carved out of opal, her lips resembled purple rose petals and her eyes diamonds. Before she even realized, her hand was moving to caress Evie's beautiful face; she managed to change direction in the last second to carefully tuck a small viper behind her ear. Evie closed her eyes at the gesture and even the snakes seemed to relax under Mal's touch.

     Suddenly, her spine sent a jolt through her body. Mal didn't need to lift her head to know what it was. She could acutely feel everybody's gaze on them. Evie, however, seemed to be momentarily oblivious in her near sleep state, for a moment even the sight made Mal forget, stop feeling. _This is the real Sleeping Beauty_ , Mal thought as she fought the urge to caress the blue snakes - poisonous slithers or not, they were Evie's hair and Mal would always caress her princess' locks. The moment was near perfect; Evie, was the only person in the world that made Mal forget the rest - her problems, make her stop criticizing herself. It was a shame Evie wanted a prince, in spirit at least, and Mal was neither. She was one of the Fair Folk, a trickster, and even amongst them she was a bastard - only half a fairy. Chivalry was not for her, she couldn't even use iron for crying out loud. The idea that she could never really touch Evie like a lover, could never... Mal had never cried but right now she wanted to... _It's this damn day!_ Mal thought, _Everything is more for a fairy during Halloween, including her emotions_.

     In many ways she was grateful for Jay ruining the moment. He leaned on Evie, making the girl open her eyes with an annoyed _huff_ and glare at him. Jay ignored her and smiled crookedly at Mal, using Evie's face as an armrest. He winked at Mal, making the girl smirk.

     "Jay... you're hurting me!" Evie said angrily but Mal saw she was smiling, her snakes hissing and trashing wildly.

     "Yay!" Carlos said jumping over Jay, electing a few dirty words from Evie that made Mal proud (and fall in love even more, though that part was irrelevant). "Squashing Evie!"

     Dude jumped on top of both and started barking. Then the little demon licked her face multiple times.

     "Careful with Mal, Jay!" Evie yelled. "You know she is allergic to iron!"

     After about another half hour of the five trashing about; Ben looking horrified as he clawed at his corner, trying to evade their kicks; Captain DunBroch singing a wide varieties of sea shanties Mal only knew because of Hook (okay, and Assassin's Creed Black Flag - Jay stole an Xbox and a couple of games for her birthday - if anybody asks: a tiger shaped cave gave them to him). Drunken Sailor, Spanish Ladies, Captain Ward and All for Me Grog were amongst her favourites. After all that, they arrived at the museum. When the footman opened, they nearly spilled out. Well, Ben did fall out. He was so intent on evading kicks and shanties he was glued to the door and did not notice when it opened until he hit the concrete. Jay was thrown out by Evie seconds later.

     "You guys are fun." Skadi said as she stepped out with Mal.

     The two were the last ones to climb down. They watched Freddie half-heartedly help the footman help Ben and Mal had to stifle her giggles as the man asked a thousand apologies. Nobody helped poor Jay get up, though, as his armour didn't let him move properly. It was funny, like when a turtle falls on its back and can't get back up. It was only after the couch left that Ben noticed and went to help.

     "Thanks a lot, guys." He huffed, trying to pull Jay up.

     "Your welcome." Mal and Freddie said in synchrony.

     That took a good five minutes or so and a little bit more for Evie and Carlos to stop laughing. Mallory singing Drunken Sailor in the background was the cherry on the cake. Suddenly, just as Jay fully recovered his balance, they heard rustling in the hedges close to the museum.

     "Quick, Chad!" A girls voice urged, the owners body peaking from the foliage. "Before anybody - hey, Ben!"

     Samirah stood straight, going for that _I'm-not-doing-anything-wrong-in-spite-of-what-you-just-heard_ smile. Few in Auradon could actually pull it off properly but Samirah was Aladdin's daughter. She had come as a mummy, though Mal wasn't sure if the large spaces without wrapping were style or laziness, certainly the yellow t-shirt and black leggings beneath didn't match the Ancient Egyptian undead she was trying to pull off. The beanie made of wraps was awesome, though, and Mal just loved the wrap bandana over her mouth - like some sort of mummy bandit. But what most certainly wasn't part of the costume was the large rectangle covered in a blanket she held with both hands. Ben pinched the bridge of his nose the moment he saw her.

     It was Skadi who did the honours. "What's under the blanket, Sam?"

     "Uh... water...?" She didn't really seem to be putting much effort in the lie.

     "Really?" Ben asked.

     "Well, it's transparent like water."

     Ben opened his mouth but was interrupted by the arrival of Gladiator Chad, shirtless and everything. He was pulling a trolley that clinked suspiciously like bottle on bottle. Mal knew the sound quite well. Oh, don't judge, culture in the Isle is different and complex. Mal was about to make a comment about his choice of costume when she noticed how Evie's eyes were scanning Chad's muscular stomach as he twisted himself out of the hedges. Mal's jaw popped as she tore her eyes away, only to lock them on a smirking Freddie.

     "Samirah, are you sure we have enough al - oh, hey Ben."

     Noticed how both specified Ben? That's because they knew only Ben was responsible enough in to say anything. Well, him and Jane but she was easily silenced. Hmmm, that sounded cruel, didn't it?

     Ben sighted and turned towards Samirah. "Just tell me this isn't going to be another Harvest Festival."

     By that time, Chad had noticed how Evie was looking at him and winked, striking a pose. Evie made a disgusted face and turned her face away, towards Mal. Chad just laughed, apparently pleased by this reaction. A growl escaped the depths of her throat like an angry lizard's. She was acutely aware of Mallory trying to stifle her giggles right behind her.

     "Hardly," Samirah went on paying little to no attention to the rest. "We didn't get any Fairy Wine."

     "Oh," Mal wined, the memory pulling her out of her sub-psychotic rage and actually putting her back into a good mood. "So no Jay running down the street naked wearing antlers on his head?"

     "Or Audrey running down the street naked with a fish tail?" Evie smirked.

     The two girls bumped fists.

     "Or Evie hiding under the table paranoid, thinking the cookies are trying to dominate the world?" Carlos had to spoil the fun, didn't her?

     Samirah laughed - let's just say she had a lot of fun with that day. "Yeah, sorry guys but you lot can still get drunk like Mal did, remember?"

     Mal bit her lip remembering the morning after the Harvest Festival. Fairy Wine worked like normal wine on fairies and half-fairies, though the rest... quite amusing, really. Oh, the photos and videos were hilarious even with a roaring headache.

     "Hmpf," Skadi crossed her arms. "So it's just going to be the good and old holding your roommate's hair as she pukes, then?"

     Skadi glared at Mallory but the clanswoman ignored her. Ben shook his head and was about to say something when suddenly there was a puff of lavender smoke right in the middle of the gang. It subsided to reveal Jordan, dressed in a long cream dress and a cat masquerade mask. She clutched in both hands a crate full of beer.

     "Hey guys!" She said gleefully. "I got booze - boombox. I got a boombox." She quickly transformed the crate into a boombox and flashed Ben a smile.

     "Ugh, I need a drink." Ben said and walked inside.

     "That went well." Samirah said.

     "What is it that you have down there anyway?" Mal asked the girl.

     "Vodka and Whiskey."

     Mal smiled. "Oh, yeah, let's get this party -"

     " _No_ ," Evie said and pulled her by the arm towards the museum's large doors.

     They had barely entered the building before bumping into two acquaintances. You know, for somebody with poor people skills and who just doesn't like people most of the time, Mal was meeting and befriending too many people. The people in question this time were the twin children of Emperor Kuzco and Empress Malina: Kuzo II (obviously that would be the kid's name) and Maya. Appearance wise they looked more like their father, who was quite effeminate in Mal's opinion.

     "Ben seemed angry." Maya said, pushing herself from a Brachiosaurus femur she was leaning on. Mal was no specialist on rules but she was pretty certain you weren't allowed to lean on the exposition.

     "It's about the drinks." Evie explained, flipping her snake hair backwards. The snakes were not amused.

     "Wicked hair," Kuzco said from where he sat at the dinosaur's feet, close to a replica of what would have been its nest.

     "Thanks," Evie said, racking a hand through the adders. The snakes seemed to like that. "Mal did it."

     "So... it's staying forever?" Maya asked.

     "I'm not going to dignify that with an answer."

     Evie laughed sweetly besides Mal's ear.

     At first Mal thought that Maya had come as Catwoman but at a closer inspection she realized it was just a cat costume. A black panther to be more specific. She was covered from head to toe in black leather, trimmed here and there with black fur. Her shoes were shaped like paws and her black gloves had long claws. A tale sprouted from behind her. Her face was painted to resemble a cat's face, the whiskers long and squarish like in an Aztec drawing; a pair of ears sprouted from her raven hair.

     Kuzco's costume was more obvious, not to mention ironic. He had tried for a llama, but since he had used actual clothing for it (because Kuzco II would not be found dead in an animal costume) there were some... differences but it was still understandable. A large red overcoat with many, oh so many, fringes. Underneath a black long sleeved shirt and black pants. The sleeves of his shirt extended like a diamond to the tip of his fingers, giving the impression of hooves; and like his sister, he had made his shoes look like hooves too. He also wore floppy ears and had an overly ornamental llama face painted on his face.

     By that time, the rest were catching up to them. Kuzco seemed to brighten up the moment he saw Mallory walk through the front door.

     "Bonjour," He said eloquently as he all but jumped from the floor and ran over to take the girl's hand. "Ah, Mallory, the hottiest hot hottie in all of hottie-dom." Mallory rolled her eyes as he kissed her hand. Skadi was red, barely suppressing her laughter. "May I say you look beautiful tonight as a pirate? What say you we hang out? Every pirate needs a llama!"

     "Pirates need parrots." Mallory answered.

     "Oh, come on Mal," Yes, sometimes they called Mallory Mal. Yes, it sometimes got confusing. "Parrots are soooo cliché. I think you should go with the llama idea. More original."

     Mallory gritted her teeth. "Don't encourage him." She hissed through her teeth.

     Skadi's smirk was Isle worthy to say the least. "Oh, I think I will."

     "Come, fair maid!" Kuzco proclaimed in Shakespearean style, hooking an arm around Mallory and all but dragging her down a corridor. "We shall have much fun this night!"

     Mallory threw a glare at Skadi as she left the room with the prince. _You'll get yours!_ , she mouthed ominously. Maya winked at Mal and followed her brother, her shoes clinking against the marble floor.

     "You are worth nothing," Freddie noted with respect.

     Once again Skadi's smirk was Isle worthy. "You have no idea."

     As it happened a lot of people were lousing around, taking their time to get to the Caesar Room. Ben was doing the job of trying to herd them all back to the correct room. He was behaving like a Border Collie, better thinking, he should've come as a Border Collie though there was an irony in him doing it as a cowboy. Apparently he had enlisted the help of Jane and Doug. Jane was dressed like a witch - Ha! Now that's what Mal called amusing - and Doug was dressed as General Grievous; mask, cape and everything. Even his pants and legs were realistic.

     "Guys," He said, spotting them. "The party is that way. After the Ice Age exposition."

     "Thanks, Doug..." Evie frowned. "Are you supposed to be a robot or something?"

     Mal snorted, her laugh stuck in her throat. Evie frowned at her. Doug also frowned but shook his head, probably thinking Mal was making fun of him. He gave Evie a bow and cleared his throat.

     "I'm General Grievous."

     Evie blinked. Much hilariously, her serpents looked at each other as if asking:

_You know what he is talking about?_

_No, do you?_

_How could I? I asked you!_

     Snakes were comedians like that, a shame most people couldn't talk to them. They were very wise too, why do you think Athena uses them as one of her symbols? Sure, they are venomous but so is Audrey and everybody endures her. It wasn't just the reptiles that were trading looks, apparently only Carlos and Jordan knew what Doug was.

     "Who?" Evie asked.

     Doug laughed. "General Grievous is -"

     "The Supreme Commander of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars." Mal said.

     Everybody was just staring at her.

     "You like Star Wars?" Doug asked aghast.

     Mal shrugged. "Mother had a thing for Darth Vader... and Darth Sidious."

     "Did Maleficent have a thing for any other Dark Lord?" Evie asked teasingly.

     "Sauron and Voldemort." Mal answered seriously. "She also had a thing for Tywin Lannister but grew out of it."

     "Didn't she have a thing with Hades?" Freddie asked and Mal's blood immediately froze. "There was even a rumour you were -"

     "Don't go there." Mal's tone was final and venomous as a rattlesnake.

     Yes, her mother had dated Hades - many times. They had an on and off relationship that predated Mal's existence and was hardly stopped by her birth. So naturally rumours had started that Mal was a child of Maleficent and Hades (she could imagine how such a prospect must've made Auradon shake to its core). It was false, of course; like, if she were, Hades would've yelled to the four winds, Maleficent probably would've been even more rigorous in her training and Mal would just boast of it. But if there was any doubt about it, then her stay in Auradon ended it since no godly powers showed themselves. She wouldn't have minded, mind you, Hades had a few children and he always treated them well - particularly his favourite and the only one from his marriage to Persephone, Percival. Mal and him had been the bosses of the Isle before his Olympian kinsmen dragged him permanently away from that place. Also, Hades was always giving her gifts to get on her good side so she would help him. Normally Mal did, her mother was always in a good mood after a date night with Hades. But Maleficent had made it abundantly clear Mal's father was weak and Hades had once called him a jackass. Still, the Lord of the Underworld had been more of a father to her than anything else so... yeah, her life was messed up. At least she had friends now, that was a nice change of events. All were important for her but Evie... She sighted internally. It was a shame she would never be able to call her "love".

     Oh, crap, was that a tear forming in the corner of her right eye? Damn this bloody holiday and the emotional weight it brought fairies!

     Skadi seemed to have felt the shift in the air, maybe even felt Mal's tear forming (part of cryokinesis was sensing water to freeze it), and decided to change subjects.

     "Nice talk but I'm starving. Let's go. That corridor, right Doug?"

     "R-right," Okay, Grievous would never do that. "Just down the corridor, first to the left, can't miss. The atrium has a chequered floor."

     Mal stayed behind, waiting for everybody to walk ahead before following. The damn tear had gotten too heavy and was starting to fall, Mal lifted a hand to wipe it but soft fingers brushed over her cheek and wiped the tear before it could even fall. Without a word and smiling brightly, Evie hooked their arms together and she led Mal to the Ice Age exposition. She did not fail to notice Ben tipping his hat at Mal as they passed, grinning for some reason. Evie smelled nice, some Mediterranean perfume... sea and hyacinth? Yeah, that, probably, maybe... Mal didn't know, she was distracted. No, not by the bones of Ice Age megafauna, or the wicked looking bones of cavemen and their stone tools... _okay_ , Mal was paying attention to them too (yes she was a good student in spite of her bad girl attitude) but Evie was her main distraction. The ghost of her fingers still lingered on Mal's cheek, like a soft breeze. And her warmth and perfume bathed Mal, making the eyes of the _daughter of the Mistress of All Evil_ flutter and her heart pound. It was so distracting that she didn't notice the snowmen until she felt the soft snow hit her like a pillow and felt his carrot stab her gut.

     "Sorry, Olaf," Mal said, pulling his nose back to the right position. "I was distracted."

     "Oh, don't worry," The snowmen said gleefully. "I would be distracted to if I were walking with a pretty girl - why do you have snakes for hair?"

     Evie giggled, though if it was because of Mal's blush or the question, Mal knew not.

     "Mal gave them to me because of the costume."

     "Oh... can I touch?"

     " _Olaf!_ " Skadi protested, her face red.

     It was so funny it bordered on cruel. Princess Anna had made the snowmen her children's chaperon. Which was amusing and annoying at the same time - at times embarrassing.

     Evie, the pure hearted princess she always was, nodded and bended down so that Olaf could brush his fingers on a serpent. He seemed fascinated.

     "Wow!" He said. "It is all scaly and stuff." Mal felt a stab of pride at her good work.

     "It's a snake, of course it's - what are you doing here?" Skadi crossed her arms.

     "I'm your champion!" He proclaimed.

     Skadi rolled her eyes. "I think we had established already I'm too old for a cheperon."

     "Of course we had, Miss Mature Grown Up." Olaf giggled, twigs on his hips mockingly.

     Skadi turned scarlet. Uh, so Mallory did know how to cast curses on people, interesting.

     "I'm here with Kirk and Astrid but... uh, I lost them."

     Translation: the mischievous twins gave him a slip, like always.

     "Did you?" Skadi huffed.

     She uncrossed her arms, lifted her right hand in the air and flicked the wrist. An icy wind blew by, the snowflakes apparently hunting something in the room. Suddenly there was a loud yelp and the winds dragged two halves of a donkey from behind a cave bear fossil and dumped them in front of Olaf.

     "Children! I found you!" He said gleefully, forgetting Evie completely and nearly slapping her face.

     "You'll get yours." Kirk said, glaring at his older sister through the donkey's head.

     The twins looked a lot like Princess Anna but had Kristoff's height. Their choice of costume was interesting, though. Mal had heard of it but never seen it. So, what, Astrid would walk around all night sniffing Kirk's butt? Didn't sound pleasant in the slightest.

     "Get in line." Skadi said, turning on her heels.

     _Oh, the wickedness is strong with this one._


	3. Punching by the Chivalric Code

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I would like to thank you all for the comments and kudos; it means a lot.  
> Secondly, sorry for taking so long to post. Most of the chapter was already finished but I had to sort out some details and my life has been plagued by exams and presentations these past few weeks. I'll try not to take so long for the next chapters.

     Mal had not believed that the museum would have a room larger than their gym, Mal had been wrong. It was about twice as big and twice as tall. The floor was made of black granite sprinkled with white to resemble stars. Evie gave a little jump and yelp when she saw the floor and proclaimed she would use it in her castle. It really was pretty, and somewhat her style; though Mal would personally prefer rough flagstone (you know, like a cave - it's a dragon thing) or maybe something more modern with graffiti. The walls on the other hand were as white as fresh snow decorated with Greek columns and tall windows of stained glass with no form in particular - thank everything for that, otherwise she would probably spend the night looking at her colleagues parents, most likely than not defeating the villains. Apparently Prince Philip killing Maleficent was a popular style - naturally, Mal broke all the windows she could find. The ceiling was domed and painted sky-blue with white clouds, the Olympians all sat on the largest cloud, smiling down on them as if it was a group photo.

     From the door they could already see some of the exposition, which were mainly aligned against the wall or on the wall, leaving the middle free for the all so many students dancing and partying. Mal really didn't like large crowds, even if back in the Isle she ruled over a large one and was expected to continue ruling after her mother. Maleficent didn't because she expected to escape before Mal could even turn eighteen.

     _Well, careful what you wish for, I guess._

     At the far end of the room, opposite to the door, rose the Black Cauldron on a dais of black granite though it wasn't sprinkled. It loomed over the students, sending an eerie aura that Mal guessed matched the holiday. The other relics seemed to have a sort of aura too, though Mal couldn't see them very well.

     "YOU!" Mallory's voice echoed.

     She was stomping in their direction, her fists clenched by her sides. Skadi tried to bolt outside but the clanswoman grabbed her by the hair before she could succeed.

     "You and I are gonna have a little chat," She said and started pulling Skadi to the other side of the room.

     Skadi laughed as she looked at them from over her shoulder. "If I don't return in five, call the police!"

     "Okay... that was," Carlos waved his hand vaguely. Dude barked. "Yeah, buddy, weird."

     Jay shrugged and suddenly clapped his hand, much to Jordan's annoyance. The genie brought both hands to her ears and snarled.

     "Right! Let's get this party -"

     "No," Evie said pulling his ear. "First, we are going to look at the exposition."

     "Oh, come on... okay." Jay said after Evie gave him a pointed look.

     Jordan just laughed. "By Jay, have fun." And with that she jumped into the crowd and disappeared.

     "Why does she get to go?" Jay protested.

     "Shut up and do what Blueberry Princess wants, Jay - she made, like, half your clothes."

     "Thanks, Mal," Evie said.

     "You're welcome."

     Evie's smile was worth gold and seemed brighter than gold in Mal's eyes. She loved making Evie smile.

     "Do you think it will be tonight?" Carlos asked in a hasted whisper to Jay.

     "Only after midnight." Jay answered in the same voice level.

     "Sooner if I have a say on it."

     "But I will stall it."

     Evie frowned. "What are you two talking about?"

     "Nothing." Jay said.

     Mal rolled her eyes and then lifted one eyebrow, crossing her arms. She turned her glare to Carlos.

     "Carlos..."

     She smiled as the boy started talking. Carlos was easy to break - for Mal, that is, he could otherwise be very stubborn.

     "A bet between me and Jay, nothing to worry about."

     "A bet, eh?" Mal smirked.

     "M," Evie interjected before she could continue. "Remember what happened last time?" She pocked Mal's exposed belly for emphasis.

     Mal bit her lip to stop her giggling. Yes, Mal was ticklish. And only Princess Blueberry could pull it off and not lose a hand in the process. She wasn't entirely sure if she fooled the boys but Evie smirked knowingly, in an almost teasing-like manner.

     "No bets." Mal said.

     Evie nodded. "No bets."

 

     They passed by Poseidon's favourite trident. Mal immediately understood why, it was simply beautiful. The trident was made of solid silver (or at least that's what the label said), studded with polished opals and inlaid with a thousand sea animals drawn with gold lines. By that time they were already at the far side of the room, close to the cauldron.

     "Oh, cool," Carlos said, reading the information sign. "It has a HD camera and Wi-Fi."

     "Very useful in battle, I'm sure." Mal mumbled.

     "This one is cool." Jay said pointing to the last object this side of the room.

     It was a very large net made of some dark material. Thousand of strings were laced together to form a beautiful pattern of knots, at every encounter a gem shimmered like a star at night: amethyst, opal, diamond, ruby, emerald and sapphire to name a few. A large sign underneath read: Rán's Net. She was a Norse goddess if memory didn't fail her. They stepped closer to have a better look. Mal was about five paces from the net when she felt the air around her heat up. She immediately coiled back, the taste of metal very clear in her mouth.

     "Iron." She hissed.

     And there was Evie, between her and the net. Like magic, the room cooled down again, though it helped that the girl led her a bit further away from the net and closer to the trident.

     "You okay?" It was Jay who asked.

     "Yeah, just got a bit too close."

     "Great," Jay grinned. "Can we dance _now_?"

     "There's more at the other side of the room, Jay," Evie huffed and waved at the direction.

     Jay sighted. "Evie, most fairest of princesses -"

     "Thank you."

     "You're welcome. Now listen to me and listen carefully. This. Is. A. Party. Not a field trip. Not a History Class. A. Party. P-A-R-T-Y. Repeat with me now, Par - ty," Evie gave him the finger. Mal had to admit, she was quite amused. "Good, you are getting in the spirit! Now this is a party that happens to have old things that I would love to steal. But I won't because it is party night, not stealing night." _Oh, that's the reason, is it?_ Mal thought, biting her lip. She didn't know what amused her more: Jay's talking or Evie's expression - both probably. "Think of it this way: if we were in one their castles, you wouldn't be going around looking at every tapestry."

     "Actually -"

     But Jay didn't let her continue. "Most importantly: we are _rotten_. Okay? We might not be bad but we are wicked, tricksters, pranksters and we bring with us the party traditions of the Isle."

     "Robbing and murdering?" Mal asked.

     "No," Jay shook his head. "Partying hard! Partying from dusk till dawn till dusk. Wicked, you know?! Look at them," He wrapped his arm around Evie's shoulder and turned her in the direction of the students on the dance floor. Her snakes protested for her. "Look at them, Evie! They barely leave their squares - those two are slow dancing and its playing Crocodile Rock! Remember how Hook would go when that music played?"

     "He went into a murderous frenzy?" Evie asked not a bit amused by being under Jay's armpit.

     "It's called _freestyle_ , princess." Jay chided her. Mal was greatly amused, partially because Evie was halfway ready to kick him in the crotch and because she kinda agreed with what he was saying. "Where are the hyenas? The flaming drinks? We have only _one_ belly dancer for crying out loud!" Mal flipped him the finger. "Where is the massive bonfire? The brawls? Look, they are barely rubbing against each other and - AH!"

     It wasn't Evie who tackled him to the ground, though the girl was already lifting her foot to kick him. It was a blur of orange and black that yelled: Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

     "Hey, Mr. Tigger." Mal greeted.

     "Oh, good night to you, Mal," Tigger said, then he frowned and looked down, smashing his nose against Jay's. "Oh, hey Jay, how did you end up down there?"

     "You jumped over me, Mr. Tigger," Jay huffed.

     " Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Did I now? Well, it's a hazard when you have tiggers about." He said climbing down from Jay.

     "A little help?" He asked, lifting a hand

     "No." Mal, Evie and Carlos said, Dude barked something but didn't go help him.

     "Mr. Tigger, what are you doing here?" Mal asked, surprised to see the stuffed tiger.

     "I'm keeping an eye on you, kids." He said gleefully, jumping around them in circles on his tail.

     _Of course_ , for the love of the Olympian Gods they were nearly adults! Why don't adults trust teenagers alone... Samirah passed by with a crate of beer poorly hidden underneath a blanket. Adjusting her focus, she noticed Chad pushing a keg by the other side of the room. Okay, she stood corrected but... _come on!_ Like the adults hadn't done it at their age - actually it was legal for children to drink back when they were young.

     As much as Mal didn't fully get why they needed a responsible around them, because, again, it was pure hypocrisy on the adult's part (by the way, by Fairy and Spartan Law, Mal was already of age - and she was pretty sure those also applied in Auradon) _and they were with the freaking king_ , for crying out loud. Be that as it may, Mal was happy Tigger was the one doing it because, let's be frank, he's an idiot - in the good way, of course. Mal had had her fair share of idiots both in the Isle and Auradon and she could say with no doubt in her purple and green heart that if they had been 10% of who Tigger's was then she could've had a happy childhood. But the stuffed tiger was hopelessly oblivious and too rambunctious (her word of the week, by the way) to actually pay attention - not to mention he made everything funnier. Mal remembered considering breaking her own leg before Tigger became their gym teacher, now she only bewitched the gym.

     Now why _Tigger_ , that was the question. All it took was for Mal to look at the Black Cauldron to get her answer. It didn't matter what Halloween had become but it was a fairly eerie date. All Hallows' Eve, they had originally called it, the day when the boundary between this world and the other worlds, the Otherworld in particular, thinned. Spirits and fairies, to name a few, could move more easily and hence became more active - sometimes even more powerful. Maleficent loved Halloween and so did Mal; she could even feel herself stronger ever since she woke up (unfortunately, she was also more emotional). In theory it was a day when magic became stronger, yes, but it was also the day barriers became weaker. Every Halloween the villains that could do magic gathered in the Isle's main square and tried to break the barrier - once, when Mal was 12, they had been able to nearly open a crack. And the Isle wasn't the only place where evil had been sealed and that's not taking in account the portals. For all the way they were portrayed, Fairies, both Seelie and Unseelie, were not always nice - they were more of a middle term, like Mal and also love to pull pranks and steal stuff (see, she had a biological explanation, you can't blame nature now can you?). And that was just the fairies, there were other races too. So Halloween was a busy night for the security forces and Mal betted the heroes also gave a hand.

     "Uh-huh..." Mal tried for her impertinent face but also for a bit of respect. She had a soft spot for the stuffed tiger. "And where is your fantasy?"

     "I am wearing it, I'm a tiger."

     "But you are a tiger." Jay pointed out and Mal fought the urge to slap him.

     "No, I'm a tigger. A lot of people confuse the two of us. Well, I gotta go now. I've got a lotta bouncin' and watchin' to do! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! T-T-F-N: ta-ta for now!"

     "He's something isn't he?" Evie asked when Tigger was little more than blur in the distance.

     "He's nice and tramples Jay," Mal retorted. "So, yeah, he's cool."

     " _Can you guys help me, now?!_ " Jay roared, rocking himself like an upside down turtle.

     "No, have fun," Mal said.

     "M, don't be cruel," Evie chided her. "We'll help you if you come with us to the next part of the exposition.

     Jay groaned loudly but agreed to Evie's terms. Now, most people would've fled the moment they were back on their feet but Jay did have a sense of honor and he never backed on his word so he followed them, rather gloomy but he did. He probably was pleased when they met with Audrey at the third relic - which was some sort of Atlantean statue. She was chilling by a snack table, drinking something from a red cup. Her fantasy was a witch, much to Mal's amusement. It was quite well made, black velvet robe with a green underside, tall collar and wide sleeves; a wide brimmed black hat and upturned shoes that glinted with tiny stones. She whistled when she saw them and beckoned for them to join her. Too late did Mal realize it was a trap.

     "Hey, Mal," She greeted. "Skimped up I see."

     Mal closed her eyes and mentally kicked herself. _1 Dragon. 2 Dragons. 3 Dragons. 4 Dragons. 5 Dragons._ She counted with every breath.

     "It actually fits you, you know," Audrey went on. "Have you ever seen a picture of a warrior elf or fairy? Damn, you are representing them quite well."

_1 Dragon. 2 Dragons. 3 Dragons. 4 Dragons. 5 Dragons._

     "Are you gonna keep this all night, Audrey, or are you going to piss off?" Mal asked, opening her eyes.

     "Oh, be a sportsman!" Audrey laughed. "Besides, you had it coming. You said you would make me a Hula dancer and squeeze Jane into a Slave Leia outfit."

     Mal couldn't help but smile as she remembered the way Jane nearly had a heart attack when they showed her the photo of the fantasy.

     "M," Evie chided besides her. "You really have to stop saying your evil plans out loud."

     Mal shrugged. "Never was an issue in the Isle."

     "That's because people knew that if they didn't willingly fall for your evil plans then you would beat them to a pulp." Carlos pointed out. "Or order Jay to beat them to a pulp."

     Dude barked in agreement.

     "Oh, what do you know?" Mal asked the mutt. "You weren't there."

     "Hey!" Jay protested. "I'm not Mal's lackey!"

     "Shut up." Mal told him.

     "Yes, ma'am."

     Carlos pulled out his phone from what appeared to be a furry pocket (did werewolves have pockets like kangaroo's - stupid question, don't answer that). He flicked his wrist and there was a loud sound of a cracking whip. Of course, a fit of laughter was due, with the exception of Jay who instead decided to glare at Carlos. Literally a heartbeat later, the two were in a ferocious chase throughout the room and disappeared in the crowd.

     Audrey coughed into a fist, still doubled over from laughing. "Anyway..." She tried to straighten her back. "I have one word for you Mal: Karma."

     Mal frowned in confusion. She had a vague memory of hearing that word before... Shere Khan and some of his lackeys... some type of Indian sauce? Or maybe it was one of those hero stuff she didn't really get but pretended to so that nobody started a musical number to explain it to her.

     "And hot!" Drawled a man's voice close to her.

     Mal closed her eyes and deepened her breath. She knew who had said it. Not only did she choose not to dignify that with an answer but she had learned that beating people into a pulp was not so much appreciated here in Auradon.

     Were those snake hisses she was hearing?

     "Leave her be, Slade," Warned Audrey, hands on her hips.

     But the idiot was deaf to reason, as always. He stepped besides Mal, well into her camp of vision. _Art Slade_ , the name left a metallic taste in her mouth. His mug could easily be lost in a group of five people, his physic pathetic when compared to Jay or Ben and his grades barely held a firefly to Evie's blazing hot sun. Yet, he played more the part of the cocky peacock than Shere Khan. Not surprisingly, he had come dressed like a stereotypical hunter - the types that slaughtered African animals in the 19th century, up to a double barrel rifle that Mal was certain was not false but the real one everybody whispered he had. Everything was decorated in tiger stripes. It reminded Mal of Tigger and that just made her even more pissed.

     "Oh, but look at her - dressed like that. Are all villainesses sluts?"

     Yep, Mal was definitely hearing a nest of vipers. It didn't pride her to admit it took a few seconds to realize it was Evie's hair. The blue serpents were coiling angrily around her face like a wounded octopus. Evie's face was somewhat neutral, save for a hint of disgust on her lips; but Mal knew how to read E's eyes and they were _furious_. Slade also took a good time to realize where the sound was coming from and when he did, it was all he could do not to scream. That brought a smirk to Mal's lips. For all his tough talk, Slade was a coward. She had a very vivid memory of Slade screaming like a girl as jaguars tried to maw him down and jumping into a river to escape the monkeys. She also later remembered him being one of those who manhandled her and tried to force her into a dirty toilet. No worries, his time would come, Mal had him on her list.

     As always, the jackass didn't stop talking. "I would never have thought the slimy daughter of Maleficent to be such a whore."

_Okay, Mal, deep breathing. 1 Dragon. 2 Dragons. 3 Dragons..._

     Suddenly, she felt a sharp sting on her butt cheek and there was a loud smacking sound. It took Mal a while in her head to figure out what had just happened. _Did he just **dare** \- not even **Maleficent** ever had -_ There was another loud sound, this time like escaping steam. Mal didn't know if it was literally steam escaping her body (it happens with dragons) or Evie's serpents or a hole in a pipe. It didn't really make a difference. _Screw Auradonian-diplomacy, it's time for Isle-diplomacy_. Mal whirled on her feet and slammed her fist into the Slade's right eye. Coincidentally, one that made her heart flutter, Evie had done the same thing at the exact same time but hit him in the left eye instead. Slade fell cold on his back like a plank. Mal and Evie's eyes met and they just stared at each other. Somebody seemed to have turned down the volume of the world. For a moment all she saw was Evie. Her chest rising and falling, her eyes burning, her serpents trashing about wildly and slowly calming down. Mal noticed that Evie's hands were shaking and she was about to reach for them when suddenly the volume went back up and Ben appeared besides them.

     "What happened here?" Ben asked, studying Slade's unconscious body with half-hearted concern.

     It was Audrey who answered. "Slade called Mal a slut, then he spanked her." There was no doubt that Audrey's voice was angry, try as she might to keep the tone neutral. "Mal and Evie knocked him out."

     "Problem?" Mal asked defensively, somewhat harsh, stepping in front of Evie in a protective manner.

     Ben pondered. "No. While violence solves nothing," Mal rolled her eyes. "you were offended, Mal, and Evie is protected by the Chivalric Code." He clapped. "So you may continue... talking, not punching him. Especially because he is unconscious."

     With that he wandered off, melting into the crowd. Mal kept her gaze fixed on the point he disappeared. She still felt the sting and the sound seemed to echo in her ears. Somebody called for her but she didn't heed at first, nor did she recognize the voice. A different voice called her but likewise she didn't react.

     "Mal -" It was Evie and Mal realized that hers had been the first voice.

     She touched Mal's shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly but something caught hold of Mal at that exact moment, a clenching in the heart.

     "Excuse me." Mal said and walked away.

     She heard Evie call after her but when Mal wanted to disappear, nobody could find her. She melted into the crowd and soon only heard half-familiar voices as she slithered her way through crowd. Mal wasn't entirely certain what she was trying to accomplish disappearing like this but she didn't like to look weak in front of people; be it friend, foe or stranger. She particularly loathed the notion of Evie seeing her like that. Without a precise destination, Mal pulled the shawl tighter around her and trudged off. Some people scrambled out of the way, others greeted her warmly, fearfully or politely. Mal would mostly ignore them, though for one or two she threw a half hearted smile. Somehow, Jay had finally managed to start dancing with Jordan and he was rocking it Isle style. Sincerely? Mal felt happy for him. After what seemed like an eternity she managed to leave that suffocating sea of polite humans and reach a table full of snacks and drinks.

     It was right besides the Black Cauldron. The long table was draped in orange and black, sprinkled with cobwebs and dotted with fake fluffy spiders. In the Isle they used real ones - vicious and venomous. This seemed to be Sam's base of operations. There was a large variety of drinks, from brandy to beer to mead. In the far corner, Lin, daughter of Ling, was mixing something with juice - sincerely, Mal wasn't much a fan of mixing. She was serving Charlie Whitmore and the Atlantean exchange student, what was her name? Oh, yeah, Princess Mirash Khashekim Thatch Nedakh... or just Mira for short. One of Rapunzel's daughter's and a cousin of Pocahontas were waiting in line behind them. Forbidden drinks that Mr. Tigger was oblivious about, even though he was bouncing a few meters away, weren't the only thing on the table. A royal (yeah, pun intended) variety of snacks were spread on crystal bowls. Chocolate, popcorn, fries, sweets, cakes, pies and cookies; some normal others Halloween themed. There was also punch but that was most certainly spiced.

     Mal had half her mind ready to go grab something to drink when suddenly she thought she heard a dull drumming sound. It seemed to be coming from the Black Cauldron. She gave a few steps towards it but the noise had seemingly stopped - probably just the music or maybe some echo of the relic's magic; as a magic user Mal could hear such things. The whole room was humming with magic, Mal had just "turned off" her ears to the frequency.

     Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the table. By the corner of her eyes, she spotted Slade lumbering through the crowd, two of his friends holding him. Mal felt more anger than pity for him that moment. However, she was learning when she could harm people and when she shouldn't and Mal was pretty certain now was not the time nor place. So instead, she went for a drink. But Mal wasn't in the mood for a line so she simply went for the nearest bottle of rum (that was a pirate's drink, though, how had Sam found it in Auradon?). Suddenly, a hand rested on top of the bottle, stopping Mal from picking it up.

     "Everything considered," Maya said. "That's not a good idea."

     Mal whipped around, a bit more angry than she should be. Maya and Kuzco were watching her gently.

     "What?!" And her voice too came a bit too harsh.

     _They did nothing to you, Mal, calm down._

     "You know perfectly well it is not wise for fairies to drink during Halloween," Kuzco said. "Especially under your emotional state. Here, have a Coke."

     Mal took the can, opened it and drank it with the ferocity of a dragon.

     "What do you know of my state?" Mal asked after she had finished. "And why do you care?"

     Maya shrugged. "Less than I should; more than you think." Maya locked eyes with her. "We care because me and Kuzco consider you our friend," Mal looked confused at the two. Kuzco nodded fervently. "And, may I add, Slade is not worth it."

     "You don't know what he did,"

     "He spanked you." Maya said simply.

     "We saw." Kuzco added.

     Mal was shocked to say the least.

     "How did you see that?" She questioned. "You were nowhere near!"

     The twins looked to their sides suspiciously and beckoned Mal closer.

     "We have a secret." Maya said when Mal complied.

     "This," Kuzco said and opened his jacked to show her a collection of mini flasks with purplish liquid inside.

     Mal's eyes widened. "Are those -"

     "Potions? Yes." Maya agreed.

     "How?"

     Maya shrugged. "Yzma left all her non-so-secret laboratories complete with all her stuff when she was taken to the Isle. And Dad never gave himself the trouble of getting rid of them - actually, I think he forgot about them. Anyway, we found the one under the palace a couple of years ago and there were a bunch of books teaching us how to make them."

     "Things like Potions for Dummies, Alchemy 101, Nicolas Flamel's Tome of Philosophers..." Kuzco added, listing the books with his fingers. "And so on."

     "That's why you guys compete with Evie in chemistry!" Mal laughed. "You are alchemists!"

     Kuzco nodded. "As it happens, Yzma apparently didn't read all her books because we know how to make potions with a distinct time window, potions that are terminated by simple will and potions that only affect specific body parts. To answer your question, _this_."

     The prince tapped a flask that read: _HAWK EYES_.

     "But... why?" Mal asked with a frown. She was loving this knowledge and already calculating how she could benefit from it or prank somebody but she was confused on why they would need such eyes during a party.

     It was Maya who answered. "He lost Mallory."

     " _Oh_..." Mal smirked, perhaps more than she should. "Why are you encouraging this?"

     "Because it's fun." Maya explained. "And because Skadi asked me to."

     "Ah, our little cold cupid," Kuzco said in that fallen-in-love-accent; Mal suspected it was supposed to sound French.

     "Ignore him," Maya said shooing her brother away and lacing her arms around Mal's shoulder. "Don't worry about Slade, we've got something in mind for him, do not worry."

     At that moment, Evie appeared from the sea of people. She whipped her head anxiously until her eyes fell on Mal and in less than three steps, she was hugging her. Her snakes tried hugging too by coiling themselves around Mal's head.

     "I was worried," Evie said softly, pulling away. "Hey, if you want, we can leave - I'll talk to Fairy Godmother tomorrow -"

     "No, no its fine." Mal looked sideways at Maya and Kuzco, who for some reason were giving her the thumbs up. "You like parties, I endure them. My night isn't worth wasting because of Slade. Besides, I'm already cooking something for him."

     Evie's grin was worth a nebulae of stars. Her snakes also grinned, which Mal had to admit was a mixture of unsettling and comical.

     "Is it going to be wicked? Can I help?" Evie asked animatedly. "I have been looking up some new potions... and you know I'm all for mischief."

     "There's a chance we might get sent back to the Isle, though," Mal said jokingly.

     But Evie's voice became a bit more serious. "Well, then, just another reason for me to help you - I would never let you return there alone."

     Mal's heart hammered inside her ribcage. She was couldn't find the right words. _So would Jay and Carlos, don't get ahead of yourself, Mal._

     "Come on, Blueberry," Mal said. "Let's dance a little."

     Evie skipped happily, apparently pleased that she had been able to cheer Mal up, pulling the fairy towards the dance floor. Mal happened to look over her shoulder. For some given reason Kuzco had his arms in the air and an incredulous face, and Maya was face palming.

_Odd twins._

 

     "Wait!" Mal made a timeout sign. "I can punch whoever I want and just say it was chivalry? And I won't get into trouble?"

     They had danced in peace for about two hours or so. It was mainly Mal and Evie much to her despair and she was always glad when it became a group thing. The most pleasant and painful moments were when slow music played (in Auradon that type of thing is prone to happen even in a metal concert) and for some given reason Mal and Evie always ended dancing together. Well, yes, Mal was in love with Evie but since she wasn't certain the girl shared the feelings she tried to evade this type of situation - her brain that is, the rest of her body apparently had risen in rebellion against her brain and made a matter of throwing her against Evie at all opportunity. She was certain her heart was the leader of the rebellion. Alas, she enjoyed it much and had actually forgotten much of the Slade business until she saw him walk by, making a large circle around the two girls. Mal's snarl had been loud and obvious despite Evie whispering for her to ignore him. Of course, that got some nearby people interested. When Evie explained to them why Mal was going feral, Jay made a matter of hunting Slade down and knocking him out. When Ben appeared, Jay claimed 'Chivalry' and the king just shrugged. Needless to say, Mal was flabbergasted by Ben's and the general public's reaction.

     "Yeah," Jay nodded. "Incredible, isn't it? It's like the pirate's thing with parley."

     Mal grinned. "Good to know,"

     Her eyes diverted to somebody in the crowd.

     "Don't even think about it." Evie said, pulling Mal into a slow dance.

     "But E..."

     Evie laughed. "I just don't want your hands bloodied while you dance with me... or, you know, getting detention. Because every time you get detention, that means _I_ have to get detention to spend time with you and I hate detention."

     True, Mal had once gotten herself in trouble by picking a fight with Chad (he started it!) and gotten a week of detention. The next day, Evie blew up the chemistry room. Another time Mal accidentally invoked a snallygaster that ransacked the school. She got, what? A month for that? Anyway, Evie went on to make magical apples that made people sick so they could skip class. She also got about a month and a good pile of gold coins. And when Mal accidentally put fire to a quarter of the school (she was with a cold and dragons tend to sneeze fire, it was hardly her fault) Fairy Godmother just turned to Evie and asked if she wanted detention too, you know, to just cut the middle term that would most certainly bring her another headache. Of course, Evie accepted.

     "Guys!" Jay wailed. "This is 'All Star', stop dancing like that!"

     Mal and Evie shared a look, the latter nodded and Mal smiled gleefully and punched Jay in the back of the head. Jordan laughed her head off as Jay doubled over. What a cute and supportive couple, right?

     "Chivalry Code." Mal chipped, putting her arms around a giggling Evie.

     The rest of the night proved itself to be quite uneventful. She and Evie danced together for hours. Every now and again they would trade dance partners but would always get back together. The party wasn't all about dancing though. Evie won the costume competition. Melody really thought coming in a revealing outfit would help and Chad was inclined to believe that - he also said Mal should win, by the way, and Mal was halfway to deliver a Chivalric Punch but Lonnie and Ally managed to distract Mal. Lonnie, by the way, had come as Deadpool; and Ally had come as Harley Quinn. Mal later teased Freddie for not coming as Poison Ivy, that is, until the girl pulled out of her pocket a voodoo doll with purple hair - then Mal shut up. Evie also won the apple bobbing. Mal wasn't entirely sure if that was considered cheating or not because, like, she had a dozen of extra mouths to help her.

     A son of Hercules won the arm wrestle that Ben reluctantly allowed to take place. He was ten times more reluctant to follow Jay's idea of a friendly game of snap-dragon. Basically, you put brandy in a shallow bowl, put raisins in it, light it on fire and try to pluck the raisins out before getting burnt. [Ben here: I do feel in the obligation to tell you dear readers not to try this at home. _Ben, I'm telling the story! Out! Sorry for that folks, moving on._ ] It was an Isle tradition; Hades was the supreme champion (because he couldn't get burnt) and Mal was the junior champion (because she was more resistant to fire, though not invulnerable in human form). For obvious reasons, Ben wasn't very eager with the idea but in the end relented. Mal thought she would win but as it happened, Skadi could cover her hand in ice - technically cheating but cheating was also an Isle tradition, so it was all fair game. Ben absolutely forbid a drinking competition much to Mallory's dismay. He did allow a cake eating competition, which Olaf won. Again, since food tends to go through him, Mal wasn't entirely certain if it was cheating or not but she didn't really care. And there were other stuff too but in the end they all went back to dancing, more animated than before she might add. But eventually, Mal grew weary of it all and decided to leave them be for a minute.

     Mal spied Skadi leaning on a snack table, her arms crossed. Olaf was besides her, sitting on the table. Mal decided to join them.

     "Did you lose them again?" She asked the snowman when she arrived.

     "Uh-huh," Olaf said, his tiny legs dangling from the edge of the table. "I'm starting to think they are doing it on purpose."

     "You don't say." Skadi mumbled.

     Mal turned to her.

     "What are you doing?"

     "Chaperoning the chaperone." Skadi said and hesitated for a second. "Big crowds tire me, also."

     Olaf put his twig hands besides his mouth and turned his voice into what he most certainly thought was a whisper. "She's antisocial." He turned to Skadi, grinning. "I keep telling her that there is nothing to fear but she's silly - like her aunt."

     "Give her a break, Olaf," Mal said, making way to lean on the table besides them. "I don't like big crowds either."

     Skadi smiled at her.

     "It's a good thing you date Evie than," Olaf said happily. "She seems to like crowds."

     Mal followed his gaze. Evie was still rocking the dance floor with Jay and Carlos; as they watched she changed to Ben and then grabbed Maya for a dance. They were stopped by Mallory fleeing Kuzco and all fell into laughter.

     "Yeah... Blueberry is something," Mal said, catching E's gleaming eyes.

     "I wish I had a girlfriend like her... she's so beautiful and kind and smart and... uh... what is the term you use Skadi? Oh, yeah, hot."

     "Olaf!" Skadi protested.

     "She's hot as a hot summer's day." The snowman went on.

     " _Olaf!_ "

     Mal smiled softly at the snowman, though he had admittedly struck a nerve.

     "Nah, just friends. Evie doesn't like girls."

     Olaf looked dumbfounded. "Wow, you don't really understand a thing about love, do you?"

     "What does that -"

     "Kids!" Olaf yelled as he spotted Astrid and Kirk.

     The donkey froze for a second and then ran off. Olaf followed them at their heels his arms opened wide for a hug. Skadi chuckled softly but then her eyes fell on Mal.

     "Were you serious?" She asked.

     "About what - NO!"

     It wasn't at Skadi that she yelled at. The twins' charge had opened a large gap in the crowd, revealing Slade and his two friends offering Tigger a drink. Too late, the stuffed tiger drank it all in one gulp and started shaking as his eyes became multicoloured. Suddenly, he launched into the air like a rocket, bouncing off the walls as an orange blur before shooting out the front door.

     "No supervision!" Slade yelled, hands up doing the rock and roll sign. Half the room cheered him.

     Mal gritted her teeth and stomped up to him. Skadi tried to stop her but she swatted the girl's hand off. Lonnie tried next, stepping in front of her but Mal pushed her aside. Jane came next only to run off with a squeak without Mal doing anything.

     "Hey, asshole!" She roared. Slade had the stupidity of actually turning around. Mal knocked him out cold for the third time that night. "Chivalric Code," She said when Ben appeared.

     "Yeah, I saw." He turned to Sam. "What was that?"

     Aladdin's daughter shrugged. "Not one of mine... Red Bull, I guess?"

     "Will he be okay?" Mal asked, looking at the door.

     "I'm more worried about the museum, M," Evie said gently. "Tigger is nearly indestructible."

     Just to be sure, Ben sent Jane and Doug to go looking for him and the king had the doors closed just in case anybody else decided to go flying like a rocket. The duo later returned saying that the tiger was bouncing off the walls in the Arctic Exposition, while having tea with the stuffed polar bears and wax Inuit. So he was safe - the exposition not so much but there was nothing they could do. Mal did tie Art Slade and throw him and his two friends into a broom closet without Ben seeing (he could be dangerously oblivious for a king). Evie helped her just because she wasn't in the mood of scheming to get detention. The party did improve drastically after that though, and even Chad gave Mal the thumbs up - as did many of the other students.

     After another hour or so of dancing like lunatics, Mal and Evie returned to slow dancing despite of Jay's complaints because it was playing 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. However he stopped complaining the moment Jordan said she wanted to slow dance too, and Mal teased him senselessly for that.

     "This is nice," Evie said.

     "Yeah,"

     "Hey, Mal?"

     "Hmmm?"

     "Can I ask you something?"

     "Anything but math."

     Evie giggled and lifted a hand to twirl a snake in it. "I was wondering if... uh..." Mal frowned when she noticed that E was blushing. Her serpents looked between the two of them as if it were a tennis match. "I was wondering if you would like to -"

     Suddenly the double doors burst open loudly, swinging and bashing against the walls. The music didn't stop but everybody stopped dancing, their eyes turning towards the new comer. To Mal he was only a silhouette because of the light behind him. The sudden tension in the room was palatable. It was a Maleficent worthy entrance.

     The figure gave a step forward into the room's light. An old friend Mal hadn't seen in a very long time.

     "You!" Audrey exclaimed somewhere close to Mal.

     "Me." Agreed Percival de la Fleur, the son of Hades and Persephone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I think it is safe to say most people here have seen Descendants 2 or in the very least seen the music videos. So... "Space Between" happened. Now, in my experience, that is probably the gayest thing I've ever seen in anything Disney made. I didn't expect (and I still don't do) for them to do Malvie - especially before Frozen 2 comes out (just saying, Elsa is the one with the best chances right now). But this scene... I think they were messing with the Malvie shippers, I really do. The creators are certainly aware that a good portion of the fans ship the two, the actresses have mentioned it a couple of times too. I mean, I'm pretty sure the thought crossed the minds of everybody involved filming that scene - its difficult not to sense it. So either this is some elaborate plot with Malvie as an endgame (which I highly doubt) or quite possibly they were messing with the fans.  
> Anyway, what are your thoughts?


	4. The Demigod and the King

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long absence, which I do apologize for, we're back with another chapter. I hope you enjoy it and once again sorry for the long time it took to finish it.

You know that feeling when you are mustering all your courage to do something and then suddenly something happens and you lose it all?

Yep, that's what happened to Evie the moment the doors opened.

     She had been so close to ask Mal... well, she wasn't entirely certain what. Would she ask the fairy to become her girlfriend or just out for a date...? Though the party they had practically exclusively hanged out together could be considered a date. Maybe she should just have asked Mal if she liked her and see where it went from there? After, of course, Mal had managed to reboot her mind. She was terrible with feelings and a direct question like that would probably have... side effects. Still, a direct approach was normally the best. Evie knew that Mal liked her so why all the fear? Well, if Evie knew the answer to that they probably would already be dating by this time.

     At that moment, though, enough fear had left Evie for her to grow the courage to talk to Mal (and Jay had been quite encouraging, sweet of him, don't you think?). So of course something was bound to happen. A demigod bringing news of a nasty prophecy wasn't the first thing Evie would've guessed would happen but in no way was it odd in these lands.

     "You!" Audrey exclaimed.

     "Me." Percival agreed.

     Percival de la Fleur. Evie hadn't seen him in a couple of months. He was one of Hades' children, though the only one with his first wife Persephone. That technically would make him a god but apparently somebody had decided to give Hades a taste of his own venom and tried to poison Percy. Whoever did it did a sloppier job than Pain and Panic because Percy barely drunk half the bottle - he did lose his immortality though (prow tip: don't mention that close to him and much less ask about it - even if you didn't know). On the other hand, while Hercules kept his godly strength, Percy kept his godly magic. Somehow he even managed to magically transport in and out of the Isle though he couldn't take anybody out, unfortunately.

     Evie liked Percival. After she was banished he was one of the few who actually took the trouble of visiting her and he would tell her stories about Auradon and other faraway lands and he treated her nicely. Before Mal he was probably Evie's best friend. And she knew the Evil Queen had somewhere in her head plans to marry the two of them. Compared to most of her other options at the time, it was actually high score. To be fair though, it would still be. Percival was tall, lanky and thin - perhaps a little too much, like a skeleton with skin - and you could easily trace his blue-greenish veins under his near translucent skin. Still, though, he was quite pretty with his bright green eyes flecked with gold and shoulder length brown-red hair. His fingers were long and skilful. His ears were a little pointy, as were his teeth and nose. Certainly he had come out more like his mother - both appearance wise and personality wise. He did inherit his father's sense of humour and determination, though.

     "What are you doing here?" Audrey demanded, placing her hands on her hips. "You were not invited!"

     Percival rolled his eyes. "Good to see you too, Al."

     "Don't call me Al!"

     "And answering your question: I'm here to help my friends."

     "Your friends?" Audrey asked and then looked over her shoulder. "Ah, the VK's."

     "Not just them, though," That caught Evie unawares and she was even more surprised when he tilted his head in Ben's direction. "Your Majesty."

     Ben tilted his head back. "Your Ominousness. We have to discuss a ghoul issue we are having in the Spring Forest... and finish that bridge over the Styx."

     "We'll talk about it Monday - your place." Percy turned his eyes towards Jay. Or at least Evie thought it was directed Jay. "Hey Jordan."

     "What's up Perce?"

     Audrey whipped her head between the two.

     "How do _you_ know each other?!"

     "MagicCon." Jordan answered. "Speaking of, Percy next year's going to be _wicked_."

     "What's more wicked than necromancy at Bald Mountain?"

     "A tropical beach in Motunui."

     " _Oh, yeah_ -" He was stopped by the most unlikely of creatures... a hugging Mal. The entire room caught its breath as Mal wrapped her arms around Percy and didn't let go. Hell, even Evie was caught unawares. Percy too was stunned for a second before he started laughing. "I missed you too, Little Dragon," Mal huffed and pulled away. "You've grown... an inch."

     Mal snarled and punched his chest hard. "Where the _fuck_ have you been? I haven't seen you in nearly _two_ years."

     Her voice came out angry but Evie heard the cords of sadness in them very clearly. Of course, she, Evie, Jay and Carlos were like a family ever since the Isle. And Mal had been on Freddie's good side back there too and once upon a time had been Uma's best friend. But it had been Percy who had fulfilled the brother role for years, as Hades had been some sort of father to her. They used to go everywhere together (during Autumn and Winter at least, Percy spent the rest of the seasons in Auradon or Olympus) and had ruled over the Isle with her for years. He would always talk about Mal when he visited Evie, until that is she started showing signs of hurt and he would immediately change the subject. But then one day Zeus and Beast designated him to take the helm of the Underworld. Zeus having been tired of having to organize the gods to take turns for the job and King Beast was tired of all the Underworld phantoms and monsters running loose around Auradon (because apparently the other gods abilities to reign the Underworld was abysmal). The King of Olympus tried to convince the King of Auradon to just let his brother go, but Beast was too proud and scared to let that happen so he decided Percy should do it. And so, Percival de la Fleur became the ruler of the Underworld at the age of 13 and his visits to the Isle became rarer and rarer. Mal didn't talk much about it but Evie was certain that the absence of her kind-of-stepbrother had taken its toll on the young fairy. Sometimes when she had nightmares, Mal called his name - at others she just cried or called Evie's or Jay's.

     "I'm sorry, Mal," Percy seemed genuinely sorry. "But I got caught up with things - I've literally spent two months without seeing the sun - what are you _wearing_?"

     Mal blushed that cute way of hers and tried to cover up with the shawl Evie made for her.

     "Oh, Mal is skimpy now." Jay said stepping out of the crowd and ignoring Mal's redness and viperous glare (hey, she finally got to use that word).

     They clasped each other's forearms and slapped their shoulders with their free hands before pulling into a hug. Carlos came up next and they hugged too, Dude barking at their feet and wagging his tail.

     "Hmmm, so you have gotten over your fear of dogs, eh?" Percy grinned and clapped the boy's shoulder. "What say you if I brought Cerberus's here to play, he's very lonely."

     For some reason Evie had the impression it wasn't only the three headed dog that was lonely and wanting to play. But any sort of resentment left Percy's voice when he noticed Freddie.

     "Voodoo Girl!"

     "Corpse King!"

     The two bumped fists a bit too harsh by Evie's book but they didn't seem to mind. It was at that moment that Percy finally looked at her. He started laughing as he pushed Freddie aside and pulled Evie into a warm hug. He kissed her forehead as he always did when he visited her.

     "Princess," He said fondly. "You've grown a bit too. More beautiful than last time if that is even possible - the Fairest Of Them All, I've always told you." Evie blushed and smirked wickedly when she heard a good echo of _humpfs_ coming from the other princesses. "And a mistress of disguise too, for a moment I thought you were some gorgon." He turned his head to Mal. "Mal, you know she's going to castrate you if you can't reverse this, right?"

     "I would never castrate Mal." Evie said softly as Percy stepped away.

     Jay laughed. "No, but when I accidentally let glue fall on a tip of your hair I was forced to where armour for a week as you prowled the school with scissors."

     Freddie crossed her arms. "Or that time I cut a lock off for a ceremony and you tried to _shrink_ my head."

     Audrey clapped her hands. "Oi! Okay, this is all very heart-warming and... kind of psychopathic," She winced a bit, no doubt remembering her own experience with a vengeful Evie. "But you mentioned that you were here to help us...?"

     "Ah, yes! I came here to warn you about the Blue Corn Moon and the..."

     Whatever Percy was going to say he dropped it and just stared at something as if he had been hit in the face by a lightning bolt. It took Evie a while to realize he was staring at Skadi, who likewise was staring back dumbstruck.

     Suddenly, apparently shaking himself off of his shock, Percy cleared his throat. "Percival de la Fleur," He said entirely to Skadi. "Son of Hades and Persephone, Prince of the Underworld." He did an exaggerated bow. "At your service and that of your family."

     Skadi blinked three times and shook her head as if somebody had sprayed water in her face. "Skadi Bjorgman," Skadi said stepping closer. "Daughter of Princess Anna and Prince Kristoff, Heiress of Arendelle and Lady of Winter."

     "A lovely name to match your lovely titles." Percy said, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles.

     Besides Evie, Mal made a gagging gesture, electing a giggle from her that she tried to hide with her hands.

     "And your titles are badass." Skadi said. "While your name is charmingly elegant."

     "Oh, Spirits!" Freddie murmured loudly. "I swear if you two start singing 'Love is an Open Door' or 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight', I will throw up."

     Ben cleared his throat. “Mr. de la Fleur?” It admittedly felt weird to hear ben call a seventeen year old ‘Mr’ but Ben was old fashioned like that. “You were about to tell us something…?”

     “Um… oh, what? Oh, yeah. The Horned King is coming.”

     It was almost comedic the way he spoke it, so nonchalant as if talking about the weather and his eyes still locked dreamily with Skadi’s. The girl herself either didn’t hear him or was likewise indifferent as she stared at him as if under a spell. In spite of the pandemonium that erupted a heartbeat later, the two remained an island of calmness as if they were in a different reality altogether; their hands clasping each other’s, their fingers intertwined. _Oh, sure, in less than five minutes they are like this but I’m taking **months** to even get a kiss!_ Evie shook her head, sometimes she had the impression some sort of god was taking great pleasure with her situation, like, he or she was sitting in a couch right now watching her through a TV with a bucket of popcorn in one hand and laughing his/hers head off at her situation. Maybe it was Aphrodite.

     Around her all hell had broken loose with teenagers running around and screaming like hens attacked by a fox. Nothing knightly or ladylike. A few were stuffing their chests and declaring they would slay the Horned King when he arrived – young hero wannabes, Evie rolled her eyes at them. Ben had fallen into a sort of panicked trance where he walked in circles mumbling to himself and racking his fingers throw his hair. That went on for a while before Mal released a high pitched whistle that had everybody freezing in place and shutting up; and it also had Auradon’s newest lovebirds snap out of their trance. It was probably an ability from her banshee side of the family.

     “That’s impossible!” Audrey cried, the first one to recover. “He was killed a long time ago and not even Fairy Godmother was able to bring him back!”

     “A good thing too, it was hard enough to herd all those villains inside the Isle. The Horned King would’ve been too much for the old bat.” His voice dripped with resentment. Evie wasn’t entirely aware why because Percy had never bad mouthed the fairy to her but perhaps it was because he blamed her for his current predicament as Lord of the Underworld. “The reason why she failed to resurrect him was because he wasn’t dead in the first place. He was trapped inside the Black Cauldron, which holds the spirit of the Death-Lord Arawn himself, in other words, he is trapped in another world. A pocket Underworld, if you will, like Davy Jones Locker. Neither Fairy Godmother nor my father could hope to release him.”

     “Wait.” Jay made a time out with his hands. “Then how is he coming back?”

     “When did I say he couldn’t escape? There’s a prophecy: At midnight of the Hallows Eve bathed by the Arawn’s Moon, the Horned King shall be released from his prison and rise his army of the fallen.”

     “That’s… awfully simple.” Evie said. She was well versed in Greek mythology and was well aware that prophecies were normally much more complicated.

     “Oh, it’s just a simplification of a translation.” Percy explained.

     “Then we are safe!” Chad exclaimed, cutting Percy before he could explain the original prophecy. “Today is Halloween!”

     Mal gritted her teeth. “Halloween _is_ Hallows Eve, you imbecile.”

     Fun fact: _Imbecile_ is one of the trademark words of the Faerie Family – it is even written on one of their mottos.

     At that moment, the clock struck 11:45. Ben started walking in circles again, mumbling: “This is bad! This is bad!” Over and over to himself until Mal walked over and slapped him. “Thank you, Mal.” He said rubbing his face.

     “Anytime.”

     “Okay, listen up!” Ben clapped his hands to get everybody’s attention. “Let’s make an organized line and leave as quick and organized as we can –“

     “Why?” Percy asked.

     Ben looked dumbstruck. “You just said –“

     “I said the Horned King was returning in fifteen minutes. Not that all of you should cowardly run away!”

     “Then what would you have us do?” Chad asked.

     Percy rolled his eyes. “What is the opposite of running cowardly away, Charming?”

     “Staying and fighting… Oh, no way in hell!”

     “I’ll do it!” Mal said brightly.

     Jay punched a palm. “Yeah, me to.”

     “No!” Ben said though Evie doubted the duo even heard him. “It is too dangerous!”

     “Yes, because it’s not like two kids and a pig did it the first time.”

     “I’ll do it too.” Skadi said, straightening her back. “I’m not afraid of an old sack of bones.”

     Audrey rolled her eyes. “And me here believing only men thought with their genitals.”

     “I’m Scottish!” Mallory said brightly and proudly. “I fear nothing – much less a Welsh sorcerer.”

     Some of the children of the other clansmen agreed loudly with her. Hercules’ children were quick to agree and other demigods followed their suit. Suddenly, Jay jumped onto a nearby table.

     “Aren’t you the children of heroes?” He asked loud enough for his voice to echo around the room. He received a wave of positive cheers as response. “You parent’s defeated big bad villains when they were teens!” _Well, not all of them…_ “Isn’t it our time to shine?”

     “Oh, come on Ben,” Mal purred as she grabbed his shoulders. “Didn’t you say the other day you wanted to prove that you were a good king to your dad – to the other nobles? What better way than to lead the future heirs of Auradon to battle against one of the most terrifying villains ever?”

     At that Ben relented. Evie’s world was returned to balance, indeed everybody had a price, some just happened to be more noble then others and not monetary. With that the boys starting discussing combat tactics and when Evie says discussing she meant shouting and arguing and calling each other names with the random tackling of a colleague to the ground. Ben tried to control the chaos as he kept glancing at the Cauldron and then to his clock and back at the relic. Audrey rolled her eyes and called the girls to a reunion in the bathroom away from all the noise. When Audrey said _girls_ she meant of course her closest friends (which by some unexplainable miracle had come to include Mal and Evie) and whoever was close enough to hear, minus Lonnie and Mallory who had mingled with the boys. As they walked over to the bathroom, Mal grabbed Evie’s arm and turned her around so they were facing each other. Evie was forced to bite back a giggle. She stared into Mal’s beautiful emerald eyes. This was it, she was going to tell Mal how she felt – they were quite likely to die in less than fifteen minutes so what did she have to lose?

     "Hey, Evie, what were you going to ask me back there?" Mal asked.

     Evie's heart stopped, all the courage gone from her like water down the drain. "Uh... I... forgot."

     "Okay," Mal chipped starting the walk to the bathroom. "Tell me when you remember.

     Evie stood there momentarily dumbstruck, just looking Mal go - doing her best to evade the girl's butt because that would be inappropriate for a lady though a treat for the eyes. One of her snakes smacked her in the face and hissed.

     "I'll do it later," She told the reptile as she shoved it backwards and went to the bathroom.

 

     The bathroom was quite nice, very spacy, more so than some of their classrooms. The floor and ceiling were made of black flagstone with tiny crystals that shone like stars. The ceiling was low enough to give it a comfortable den-like feeling without anybody bumping their heads on it and the lightning was dark enough to be soothing but bright enough to make sure nobody fell over or hit a stall. The sink too was made of black stone with copper tubs and fish shaped taps, the frame of the mirror a dark bronze like the frame of a painting. Freddie was perched on the sink, nested like some sort of voodoo bird. The other girls were spread around, Ally most amusingly using a toilet seat as a chair.

     Audrey clapped to get their attention. “Okay, I would just like to start off by saying this is a bad idea, like, very bad.” She glared at Mal. “But if we are going to do it, we’ll do it _right_. And we can’t depend on the testosterone filled machos out there because… well, I think Jay’s speech went a little above their heads.”

     “Which one?” Maya asked.

     Audrey smiled but didn’t laugh. Evie suspected she was worried about Chad, for all the guy’s faults he really cared about Audrey and was always sweet and romantic with her.

     “Does anybody have a plan?”

     “We blast him in the face!” Mal said. She really had rubbed off Jay over the years.

     “Yeah!” Jordan agreed.

     “Not all of us can do magic, you know.” Sam pointed out. “Why don’t we just topple the Cauldron over or put a lid on it, this way You-Know-Who won’t be able to escape.”

     Mal frowned. “I’m pretty sure that won’t work.”

     “Why?”

     “Because the prophecy is clear.” Percy’s voice echoed through the bathroom. Evie turned to see him leaning on the doorframe. “The Horned King _has_ to return tonight, one way or the other. You can’t stop it.” He pushed away from the frame and walked towards the group. “A wise turtle once told me that one often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it. Whatever you do or don’t do, the Horned King will return. What we have to think is a way to defeat him once he arrives.”

     Mal and Freddie nodded, both being more in connection with the supernatural must’ve already guessed that. Hippolyta, one of Hercules’ more girly daughters daughters, also nodded. The others pondered Percy’s words a while longer.

     "Look," Audrey said obviously trying to control her anger. "I appreciate you coming here to warn us and all. I thank you for staying to help. But this is a _girl's_ reunion in a _girl's_ bathroom, you can't stay here."

     That seemed to amuse Percy. "Because I'm a man?"

     Audrey seemed halfway through to face palming in exasperation.

     "Yes."

     Percy laughed. "May that not be an issue, then."

     It was quick and subtle, if Evie had blinked she wouldn't have noticed. Percy's body seemed to shimmer like air does in hot days. As soon as it started, however, it stopped leaving Evie wandering if she had imagined the shimmering to help her brain cope with the magic. Mal told her that happens a lot with humans because their minds couldn't always process or even notice magic (she would've been offended if it weren't Mal talking). Percy still looked like Percy but with a few key differences. His - or better, hers - face seemed somewhat thinner, her cheekbones higher; the widow peak was more prominent and her hair had turned redder, giving the impression of a diving phoenix. It seemed longer too, over the shoulders in a mixture of straight and curly. Her body had turned more voluptuous and leaner, now with breasts. At that moment Percy resembled what Evie would expect an elven maid would look like.

     Besides Evie, Mal chuckled lowly. She turned to see what Mal had found so funny and found herself holding back a laughter of her own. All girls were gawking at Percy, a mixture of surprise and jealously in their contorted faces. Only two were different. A smirking Freddie, still perched on the sink, her feet dangling freely. And... Skadi. She gazed at Percy in wonder, her head tilted as she scanned the demigod with an expression Evie couldn't quite place. Carefully, she made her way to Percy.

     "I can be both." Percy explained nonchalantly to the room. She shrugged. "Shapeshifter and all." Skadi had reached her by then. "That doesn't bother you, does it?"

     The way it was intoned it could have been understood as a question for all present but it was clearly directed to Skadi. The girl shook her head as if just waking from a spell. She smirked, lifting both hands to wrap slim fingers around Percy's shoulders.

     "You're quite hot, you know." She purred.

     "I know," Percy retorted resting her own hands on Skadi's hips, pulling her closer.

     "Ugh. Get a room." Freddie rolled her eyes. "So now that there are no men here - can we get back to the problem at hand?"

     “How would you do it, Percy?” Ally asked. “What?!” She demanded when Audrey glared at her. “He is the Lord – uh, _Lady_ of the Underworld! He - _she_ is a known monster slayer, I say we hear what he – _she!_ \- has to say.” Ally seemed quite annoyed at herself for getting the pronouns wrong.

     All eyes fell back on Percy. The demigod looked up at them as he wrapped his arms around Skadi’s waist.

     “I just improvise as I go along.” He told them, diverting his attention back to Skadi’s face.

     “That’s my brother!” Mal said and immediately blushed when she realized she had said that out loud. Evie thought it cute and giggled, making Mal turn an even deeper shade of red.

     “Speaking of brothers,” Maya said, starting to walk to the door with her long legs. “If we are finished here – because I really like the whole improvise thing – I have to go look for my own brother before he agrees to do something dangerous to impress Mallory… _again_.”

     The others seemed to agree and some started leaving as well. A handful stayed, including a fuming Audrey, because her authority had been overtaken, by more than one person no less. Astrid, who also had taken a toilet seat as a chair looked at her sister curiously as she leaned into Percy’s embrace. Evie had to say, she didn’t remember seeing the heiress of Arendelle so… happy.

     "You know," Astrid said, the stall making her voice louder. "I've never seen you so... forward towards a stranger, Skadi."

     Percy tilted his head. "But I'm no stranger, we've met before."

Evie cringed. _Oh, no, you're not doing what I think you are going to do, are you?_

     Skadi frowned "We have?"

_Don't tell me you are falling for **that** trick._

     "Well, of course, once upon a dream." Percy took her hand. " _I know you. I walked with you once upon a dream_."

     Skadi pulled herself closer to him laughing. " _I know you. The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam_."

     It was quite cute, Evie had to admit - _fine_ , she was fangirling inside. The rest were just staring, less Freddie, who dramatic as always had run to one of the bathroom stalls and was feigning puking noises.

     “Okay you two, break it up before -”

     Before Mal could finish her train of thought the two kissed. It kind of matched if you think about it, fire and ice.

     “I puke.”

 

     It took a while to make the two lovebirds stop making out and drag them outside the bathroom but they managed.

     “Where have you been?” Mallory asked but didn’t wait for an answer. “Doesn’t matter, come on Skadi let me explain the part you’ll play in my strategy.”

     Skadi gave Percy a longing look but let Mallory drag her towards the Cauldron as the clanswoman explained her plan fervently. Something told Evie that Ben hadn’t been informed of Mallory’s battle plan but the way she waved her sword enthusiastically and Skadi glared at her sceptically. Jay found them next, making a wide circle around the two girls, watching Mallory carefully. Something told Evie that Jay _did_ know of Mallory’s plan.

     “Where were you?”

     “Bathroom.” Mal and Evie said as one. They froze as soon as they stopped talking and locked eyes, small tints of red appearing on their cheeks.

     “All of you together… never mind, when you gotta go you gotta go.”

     Evie was going to correct him but he noticed Percy first, and since Jay was Jay he did the one thing Jay does when he met a cute girl – flirt. Jordan was way past caring by that point, Jay knew better than to cheat on the genie, and she sometimes flirted with strangers too… Jay didn’t like that, though.

     "Hey!" Jay said, checking Percy out, a sly smile stamped to his face. "Who's the new hottie?"

     Evie had to throw both hands in front of her mouth in order to not burst out laughing. Oh, if Jay knew... Mal opened her mouth to say something but closed it shut when Percy strode forward and grabbed Jay's chin seductively. Jay seemed quite pleased by this. Mal shared a look with Evie, clearly foreseeing what would happen next.

     "Hey, Jay." Percy greeted back in male form.

     The son of Jafar yelped and jumped back a good meter or so. Percy laughed, very much pleased and walked off, patting Jay's head as he passed the startled boy. Jordan followed right behind and smacked Jay on the head so hard it made him double over.

     "What has just happened?"

     "I'll explain later, dumbass." Mal said rolling her eyes.

     She hooked an arm around Jay's neck and dragged him away. Evie couldn't help but feel a stab of jealously and protectiveness when she noticed Jay was looking directly at Mal's belly... and a bit below. In synchrony with her feelings, her snakes trashed around wildly, hissing and snapping. In hindsight, Mal's grasp kinda forced Jay into that position and while Jay may take opportunities like these he did draw a line with Evie and Mal. Still, jealously isn't exactly a logical feeling now is it? _She has quite the nice butt, doesn't she?_ Evie mused, tilting her head. _Look at that swing..._ Evie closed her eyes in exasperation. One of her snakes smacked her face for her. What is it that you call a face-palm delivered by a snake?

     Behind her, Freddie laughed. "Jealous are we?"

     "What?!" Evie's eyes shot wide open as she whirled around. "No! I mean -"

     Freddie sighted. "Hey, Al. Have the talk with Medusa here. Calypso needs a drink before skeletons rip me apart."

     "Don't call me -" Audrey made a sound like she was screaming into a pillow as she curled her claws in front of her. Freddie paid no attention whatsoever and walked towards the makeshift bar. Audrey sighted, bringing a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Evie... what do you feel for Mal?"

     Her heart literally stopped and took a quick trip to her mouth.

     "Friendship." She blurted, a dreadful cold feeling spreading through her body.

     "And...?"

     "Uh... sisterly love."

     _Really? Sisterly love? Good gods, whatever cover you might have had you just blew off for good._ Another snake made the favour of face-palming her again.

     Audrey smiled, hands on her hips. "So you're going Targaryen on her?"

     Evie felt herself burn, like, very much. Instinctively, she whipped her head around to make sure nobody was hearing. There was nobody around, some were at the Black Cauldron the rest either fled or hid. Many boys, particularly the athletes, had formed a loose circle around the relic. The wannabe knights, Evie assumed though she didn't recognize them from where she stood. She could make out some that stood out more like Ben with his ten gallon hat and Jay, who was the only wannabe knight that actually was dressed as one. And of course - Evie's heart made a double flip inside her chest - Mal, her beautiful purple locks unmistakable. She was the one closest to the cauldron, unafraid. She was probably smirking, making fun of the others for not getting closer. As much joy as the thought brought her, it also brought sadness, one that weighted terribly. She closed her eyes and turned her head back defeated and hanging low. She wasn't close to tears but her chest was heavy and constricted.

     Audrey sighted. "Sorry that was... Oh, screw being the nice princess. Enough is enough - look at you! You're being stupid. You like Mal and Mal likes you. Just go talk to her."

     "She'll reject me."

     "Why?"

     "I don't know... Mal likes... I don't know... It's just a feeling." Evie sighted miserably. "Old beliefs die hard Al -"

     "Stop calling me -"

     "Mal grew up believing that love was a weakness. I grew up believing I had to marry a prince. We lost a lot of that when we came to Auradon but this place isn't miraculous as you like to believe. After Mal and Ben broke up, well... as smooth as it was, it did severe Mal's ties with romantic love. Hence, she's distanced herself from it again. One night... she even admitted to me that she was scared. Of the power of love, that is. Love made her betray the Isle and turn good. She fears love could do the reverse too... we have so many cases in the Isle already. Regarding myself... I never gave up on the prince concept, not really. First I fell for Chad, who looked the part and had the title. But he was a jackass."

     "Tell me about it." Audrey said flipping her hair. "But you grow on him."

     "Then Doug, who was a prince inside -"

     "I think you are confusing prince with knight."

     "What's the difference here in Auradon?" Audrey waved her head in silent agreement. "Neither was there any for my mother - anyway... Ugh! I don't know!" Her snakes slashed around angrily. "I'm being stupid I know but my brain keeps telling me not to give up and that I will find the right prince someday. "

     Evie sighted, tired and defeated. Her snakes fell limply by her side like wet hair.

     "You know what your problem is?" Audrey asked after a long minute of silence. Evie shook her head. "You're thinking too much. Love is felt, not rationalized."

     That was so cliché... or was it? Because, like, Evie wasn't doing it.

     "Are you done?" Freddie asked arriving with an open bottle of wine in her hand.

     "Where did you get that?" Audrey asked, frowning deeply.

     "The museum's restaurant has a wine cellar."

     "Girls!" Carlos called, running over to them. "It's nearly midnight."

    

     As Evie arrived so did some more people who apparently had just found their courage or finished their prayers or something; a quarter had toilet paper stuck to their shoes. The circle around the Black Cauldron had become a bit thicker and Evie would have to open way to get close to her friends, or so she thought but Carlos tugged her arm and led around the circle and up the raised dais where it was considerable thinner – apparently nobody wanted to be so near the relic, some out of strategy of course but most she imagined were scared. And they rightly were, the stories about the Horned King were always dark and scary, his myth was as old as the land he terrified. Even in the Isle his name was mostly spoke in hastened whispers and few save the strongest villains dared say his name in a regular voice or even tell stories about him. Hades and Maleficent chief amongst them but so was the likes of Ursula, Madam Mim and Shuriki. It was Hades who used to tell them tales of the king (somehow he had become the Isle’s story teller) and being the god he was, he liked to make it as fiery and macabre as possible. Evie remembered of having nightmares for a week after Hades first told her the story when she was just a little, but being a villain at the time she had nobody to go to when she woke up at night – those had been some cold and scary nights. All memory and thoughts of dark nights disappeared when she felt Mal’s fingers wrap around her arms.

     “Stay close to me, okay?” She whispered to Evie as she led her to the edge of the circle, besides Ben and Jay, Carlos right behind her with Dude at his heels.

     “Yeah, okay.” Evie breathed, acutely aware of each digital of Mal’s fingers against her skin and that Mal was making no attempt to let go.

     “Twenty seconds.” Ben said looking at his pocket watch.

     Jay unsheathed his sword and lifted his shield. Ally hesitantly raised her sledgehammer (which was made of plastic but at least she was trying differently from some other people).

     “Ten seconds.”

     Freddie pulled from her robes something that looked suspiciously like a wand. Jordan’s hands begin to glow. Chad cracked his knuckles. Skadi hands became enclosed in a fine layer of frost. Mallory unsheathed her fake-sword (or at least Evie assumed it was false). By the corner of her eye she saw Maya and Kuzco each lift a flask with some purple liquid inside.

     “ _Three_.” The room held its breath, there was a clear sense of dread hanging heavily like a haze. Evie was afraid somebody could hear her heart hammering against her chest. “ _Two_.” Mal’s hand slid down and they interlocked fingers. “ _One_.”

     And… nothing.

     "So… what was supposed to happen?" Freddie asked.

     "Well, he was supposed to get out of the cauldron." Percy said.

     "Well... he didn't." Audrey pointed out.

     Ben scratched his head. "Maybe you got the day wrong -"

     Suddenly, the cauldron entered into eruption. A substance like plasma sprouted forward like the world's scariest geyser in shades of red, green and gold. Embers of it swirled and snaked like out of control fireworks, and settled in forming the most disturbing skull Evie had ever seen (remember: she had lived in the Isle) and that just as suddenly as it appeared it melted. The skull screamed as it turned to molten rock, pouring back into the cauldron and a bright flash of light blinded them. When it subsided, a man stood in front of them. Horns sprouted from his skull-like head.

     "Or maybe our clocks were too early." Ally whimpered behind Evie.

     The tall - thing - had dead brown skin and hollow eyes. His hands ended in claws and his mouth was spiked with sharp horrendous teeth. He wore a blood-red robe with a dark pelt wrapped over his shoulders, a hood was pulled over his head with holes for his antlers. If that wasn't enough, he had two pets. Two wyvern like reptiles the size of eagles were perched on each shoulder, their glowing green eyes scanning the crowd like a pair of vultures, their jaws snapping like hungry crocs. The room seemed to be holding its breath. It was released in a series of terrible gasps and sights when the Horned King's eyes glowed scarlet. The monster stepped out of his cauldron, his clawed feet echoing on the black marble. As he stepped out, an eerie green mist started snaking out of the cauldron. It smelled of sulphur.

     "I AM THE HORNED KING!" He proclaimed. His voice was deep, gravely and sent shivers up and down Evie's spine.

     "So, what, your wife cheated on you or something?" Percy asked.

     At first Evie was shocked by the calmness in Percy's voice. She was even more surprised when she saw that the demigod looked as calm as he sounded.

     "Son of Hades," The king said as if tasting the phrase's taste in his tongue. "Have you come to welcome my return? Or have you come to your doom?"

     The word "doom" naturally had an ominous feel to it. Coming from this demon, it was even more so.

     "No and no," Percy popped both _no's_. "But I am willing to let you leave if you swear to do no harm to Auradon. There are a couple of nice real estates in the Underworld I'm certain you would love."

     People turned heads, looking at each other surprised. However, if they were surprised that Percy was talking to the Horned King as if he was a common mook or if they were surprised that the demigod was offering him amnesty, Evie couldn't tell. Evie herself was confused by Percy's reaction to the whole thing until she remembered that Percy was a Prince of the Underworld - he dealt with phantoms and demons and the undead on a daily basis. Not to mention he was a demigod who went on quests, he was used to dealing with monsters and the likes. Being annoyingly sarcastic and unimpressed was probably part of his strategy.

     "Now," Percy went on. "if you'll insist in doing what I think you'll do... then we'll have a problem and I'll have to kick your ass."

     The Horned King seemed to be amused by this.

     "Arrogant are we?"

     "It's a curse of the family."

     The phantom's laugh was as terrible as his general appearance and echoed deep in Evie's bones.

     " _Curse_... one of my favourite words."

     His pet wyverns snapped and growled in agreement. The Horned King lifted one bony hand and the reptiles shut up immediately. Some of the students whimpered at the act as well and it was only then that Evie realized the circle had stepped back a good few steps. Only a handful of people remained in their original positions. Some out of bravery, others paralyzed by fear.

     "I laid curses upon earth and flesh when your mother was still young, fallen one." Percy audibly popped his jaw at that remark, which only made the Horned King's grin become more toothy and terrifying. "I slew men and burnt villages before there was even a king amongst the men of the Great Isle. _I_ was the first king." The green mist became thicker and thicker, spreading through the room like an angry wave, and coiled around the Horned King. His eyes started glowing again as the mist rose to meet his claws. "I was practicing sorcery long before Merlin, Yen Sid and Maleficent!"

     Mal tensed at the mention of her mother's name. The Horned King seemed to sense it, because he turned his head to pour his gaze on the girl.

     Percy smirked and crossed his arms. "Who's the arrogant now, Horny?"

     The Horned King turned his scarlet eyes back to Percy and opened his mouth for some sort of remark but Jordan cut through.

     "Dude," She said, assuming a chilled expression like Percy. "You are outnumbered."

     The Horned King laughed. "True, but only a handful of you are armoured. And most of your weapons are not even real."

     "Hey!" Jay protested, lifting his sword. "This is real steel!"

     "You brought an _actual_ sword to a party?" Ben cried.

     Jay shrugged. "A knight needs a sword. And dad always told me never to walk defenceless."

     "Where the Heaven's did you find a real sword?"

     "I didn't steal it from the Royal Armoury if that's what you are asking."

     Ben inhaled deeply. "Jay. What else did you -"

     "SILENCE!" The Horned King roared.

     "Guys, you are annoying Horny." Percy chided.

     "DON'T CALL ME THAT, HALF-BREED!"

     "There is no need of name calling, Skeletor. And I'm pure Olympian - I just lost my immortality."

     The Horned King opened his mouth to say something but Mal cut through.

     "Also, some of us can do magic." Mal said punching a fist into a palm.

     "And we still have our fists!" Chad said, only to whimper and hide behind Doug when Horny fixed him with his glowing red eyes.

     The King crossed his skeletal arms as his pets flapped their wings anxiously, still perched on his shoulder. The grin that spread on his face was nothing short of nightmarish.

     "Children," He said distastefully, shaking his head. Though there was venom dripping from his words, the grin never left his face. "You believe to be so smart. Remembering the prophecy. Making a trap. Tell me now, what about my Cauldron Born?"

     Evie frowned, she looked around for answers. Percy wasn't quite useful because he was in the middle of a face palm. Freddie and Jordan weren't looking at her, rather, they were sharing a knowing and scowling look. Apparently, whatever the Cauldron Born had to do with their situation was supposed to be obvious. To magic users, at least. It was Mal, who answered her. Evie turned to look at her and Mal locked their eyes together, silently pointing to the green mist.

     "This mist will awaken your minions, right?" Mal asked, turning her gaze to the phantom. "This thing will awaken anything that is dead and turn them into your minions, yes?"

     The Horned King's sighted approvingly. The sound was as if all the dead in a graveyard had decided to breath at the same time. Evie's body was covered in goose bumps by now.

     "Very good, _Tylwyth Teg_." He went on talking in some dialect of Gaelic, though if he noticed this or not, Evie didn't know. She herself was versatile in seven languages and sometimes she started speaking French or Spanish without noticing - especially if she pronounced a word from the language.

     Evie didn't understand Gaelic much, or any of its kin languages. But she knew that _Tylwyth Teg_ meant something akin to Fair Folk - fairies. How? Because one night Evie ended up deciding to memorize all the words for fairy in all the languages she could find. Love makes you do irrational things. At least this impulsiveness proved useful. Mal, on the other hand, did understand. Maleficent had long forced her to learn any language directly tied to witchcraft or fairy-lore.

     He went on and on, and though she did not understand a word, Evie could taste the poison that dripped with every syllable. Mal tensed and tensed, her hands curled into fists, green light shining through her fingers. Suddenly, Evie felt a deep sense of fear and realized that the Horned King's gaze had fallen upon her. He grinned that ghoulish smirk of his and spoke another phrase, one intended for Mal. One phrase. Just one damn phrase. Naturally, Evie understood none of it but it seemed something terrible because that was when Mal snapped. She roared, her eyes and fist glowing green, and attacked the phantom.

     The Horned King chuckled at what he saw. He simply lifted one hand and made a sweeping movement towards Mal and Rán's Net flew from the wall and entangled Mal, throwing her to the floor. Evie felt Mal's pain before the girl had even started screaming, the sound of seething skin was like torture to her. She ran towards Mal all but throwing herself to the floor as she desperately tried to pull the net loose. The cursed thing was heavy and seemed glued to the floor as if there was a magnet beneath them. Beneath the chains, Mal's pale skin was already marred by raw stripes. Evie whipped her head around desperately for help but the circle had stepped even further behind, many people were cowering behind tables and relics.

     _Great heroes_ , Evie thought disdainfully as she continued to try to pull the net off Mal. With one hand she lifted the net as best she could to cut the contact with Mal's skin, and with the other she pulled and tugged.

     It was her snakes that alerted her to the King's approach. He towered over them, his horrible shoulder eclipsing them. His wyverns coiled their necks and snapped their snouts at her but Evie's snakes matched their viciousness; they hissed and reared, cobras with their hoods wide open and the rattlesnakes rattling loudly. Evie looked defiantly into the King's empty eyes, her hands never leaving the net. Suddenly, she heard Jay roar. He charged at the Horned King, his sense of protectiveness seemingly returning. When his sword was mere inches from the King, the phantom simply flicked his hand and Jay was sent flying. As if in clue, the two wyverns flew off their master's shoulder, screeching and dove somewhere behind Evie, likely starting to fight one of her friends. The Horned King's empty glare never wavered from Evie and Mal. He seemed to be relinquishing in their despair - feeding from it.

     "Hardly the first time I see a fairy burn to death by iron." He purred in his raspy voice.

     Suddenly, he was tackled to the floor by a jaguar. He yelled and blasted the jaguar off with a striking spell. It was similar to the one Mal used but much nastier looking, the colour of old, stained blood and serrated at the edges. The jaguar swirled as it fell, turning into Percy, his hands encased by bright blue flames.

     "Jordan now!" He yelled.

     Jordan was a couple of feet from them, her hand outstretched and encased in light. She casted a spell. The pink blur of light flew in the Horned Kings direction. Without looking, he opened one hand, engulfing the spell and extinguishing it. _Then_ he turned his head to look at Jordan. That proved a mistake because while he was distracted, Percy tackled him in jaguar form again. Evie only saw bits of what happened next because suddenly Carlos and Dude were besides her trying to help in freeing Mal. Next thing she noticed, Maya and Skadi were kneeled beside her as well. Maya was tugging the chains so hard her face was turning red and her knuckles white. Skadi frowned in concentration as she tried to cool down Mal's wounds using ice and snow with her right hands while trying to freeze and snap the net with her left.

     It was little use. Percy flew once over their heads, only to pounce back in a blur of gold and black, his roars echoing in her ears as loud as Skadi, Carlos and Maya arguing about the best way to free Mal. But nothing was louder the Mal's screams, which seemed to punch an ever growing hole in Evie's chest. Seconds after Percy's pounce, one of the wyverns crossed the path he had done and Evie heard somebody scream behind her but she was too busy and worried to care. Suddenly, two massive arms appeared besides her. Evie looked up alarmed only to meet the purple eyes of Herc, Son of Hercules. He looked just like his father but had his mother's dark auburn hair and eyes.

     "Let me." He said in his deep, booming voice - which sounded like his grandfather's, Zeus.

     Herc started pulling and suddenly stopped. He growled as he continued trying to pull, his arms seemed to be nearly being torn off by the effort, his feet were already sinking into the stone. And then, suddenly, the net flew off. Evie heard it crash somewhere in the distance but she couldn't care less. She fell over Mal, the girl's screams of pain substituted by sighs of relief. Evie pulled her head to her lap, stroking her hair gently. Mal's skin was crisscrossed by angry raw stripes that gleamed in the light. Some were already disappearing, others seemed that they were going to stay there for a few weeks. Evie leaned down and placed a long kiss on Mal's forehead, sighting as she did so, and looked up at Herc.

     "Thank you." She managed.

     The Son of Hercules shrugged and smiled at her. He opened his mouth to say something but suddenly there was a loud screech and one of the wyverns dive-bombed him full in the chest, tackling him out of Evie's view. The screech snapped Mal back to reality - a very angry, Mal.

     "Shhh, rest..." Evie tried to sooth her despite the pandemonium that was going around them. Despite the fact that they were chocking in sulphur scented mist - which Evie in her despair had completely ignored.

     But Mal wouldn't be soothed. She popped up to her knees, leaning, still week. But her eyes shone a dangerously bright green - like Greek Fire.

     "That bastard!" She roared and shot a striking spell at the phantom.

     By that time he was still dealing with Jordan and Percy. Apparently, he had also dealt with Freddie since the girl was on the floor rubbing the back of her head - a clear sign she had taken a blow. The Horned King back handed Mal's spell away without even looking, too busy in keeping Jordan down with a light-like spell that had the genie pressed against the floor, while eyeing an angry polar bear. Mal punched the floor with a yell and scrambled up, nearly falling face first in the process and ran to the phantom. Carlos and Maya helped Evie up as they watched the fight unfold.

     "She never gives up does she?" Carlos asked.

     A stray spell flew in their direction and was stopped by an ice shield Skadi put up just in time. Evie's snakes hissed in alarm.

     "No." Evie said annoyingly and crossed her arms. _And that's one of the things I love about her._

     In clue, Mal was sent sliding on her butt towards them. Stopping by Evie's feet.

     "Mal," Evie said gently, pulling her up by the arms. Mal breathed and leaned on her. "You are still too weak to -"

     "I'm not weak -"

     Suddenly there was a loud whine as Percy was sent against the Black Cauldron, hitting it with a loud metallic _clang_ , and turning back to human form on the ground. Mal's failed attempt at attacking had distracted the Horned King long enough for Jordan to escape but now she was sent flying against the wall and with a single word that sounded more like a bark, the curtains started ensnaring her. The Horned King turned his full attention to Percy. He lifted a bony fist that was then encircled by lightning. Skadi yelled and lunged forward, a blizzard escaping her fists. The Horned King's lightning clad fist was suddenly clad in ice and fell to his side heavily, inciting a growl from the phantom. Next she made a sweeping motion with her hand and the King's feet and the floor around them were trapped in a thick layer of ice. The Horned King looked down in mild distaste and with a growl deep from within his throat the ice around his fist broke, a dark red flame taking its place. He fixed his scarlet glare at them and punched down. The spell fell to the floor like a terrible waterfall and evaporated the ice in the spot. The Horned King lifted a fire clad hand at them.

     Percy, now a wolf, lunged at him. To his credit, he had been silent. So silent, Evie only noticed the attack when the Horned King caught him by the throat with his free hand, his glare never leaving Evie and the others. Percy whined and tried to bite in the phantom's grasp, clearly feeling pain. Skadi snarled at the sight, her hands being enveloped by a furious blizzard. The Horned King noticed and smirked evilly - well, more so than usual. For a moment he tightened his grasp around Percy's throat, making the demigod cry out even more, and then he tossed Percy without even looking where the wolf would hit. His fanged grin only grew wider when he heard the clashing glass. Percy had crashed into the glass case of Poseidon's Trident. Skadi yelled, throwing another winter storm in the phantom's direction. Effortlessly, he threw his dark flame that evaporated the storm. Quick as lightning, he threw another at them. It was too quick for Skadi to even rationalize and Evie's feet seemed glued to the floor but Mal had always been the quickest. She jumped in front of them and lifted a magical shield. The dark red flames met an emerald green shield, exploding in contact and roaring in protest but the barrier held even if Mal was sent stumbling back. Evie held her so she couldn't fall backwards. In the distance she saw a wolf rise from a pile of broken glass, weak on the knees but walking.

     "You are starting to annoy me," The Horned King said. "I think it's time to start my army."

     He said something in Gaelic, or what Evie thought was Gaelic. It was an incantation but what it was about she had no idea.

     Everything happened in a quarter of a second.

     It was as if a train had hit Evie square in the face. Pain ensnared her; an unbelievable pressure in her skull, her bones becoming so cold they threatened to snap. She fell to her knees as her skin seemed to melt, her mouth erupting in pain and being washed by the taste of venom. Through a blurred vision, Evie saw other people fall to the floor. Before she realized it, she was falling sideways, her body going numb. Something caught her, something gentle. The blur of purple told Evie it was Mal. The girl seemed to be trying to say something but Evie had gone deaf. She tried to say something but she forgot how to pronounce human words. Instead, she hissed.

     Suddenly, everything went black, the sound of hisses echoing in her ears.


	5. Skirmish at the Museum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking so long to post... again.  
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Oh, and just a forewarning, there will be a lot of references and cameos in this chapter.  
> Enjoy!

Everything happened so quickly Mal barely had time to process it.

     One moment the place was a chaos. Those that weren't facing the Horned King were facing his pets – the Gwythaints, as their species was called. The little devils dove and flew, scratched and bit. Each one faced about five students at once and then flew to deal with another group, basically keeping the entire room occupied as his master dealt with the more magical threats – the only ones that could truly harm him. Jay, Ben, Herc and Freddie had been dealing with one; while his brother was flying between Kuzco (who was trying to play the heroic knight) and Mallory (who was saving his ass), and Audrey, Chad and Lonnie.

     Then, suddenly, next thing Mal knew, everybody was on the floor writhing and crying in pain. Some were even steaming. Her heart went to her mouth when she saw Evie starting to fall and she had all but crumbled to hold her.

     "Evie? Evie, talk to me! EVIE!"

     Evie wasn't screaming, she just gasped in pain. Her snakes though were yelling as if somebody was burning them. Mal tried to sooth them. She caressed Evie's cheeks and brushed her serpents but the girl stayed there, writhing in Mal's arms.

     _She shall never be yours_ , echoed the Horned King's voice in her head. The worst was that Mal didn't know what he meant specifically. Was it a threat? Or was he telling her Evie had no interest? Now it seemed that it had been a threat.

     Suddenly, Evie's entire body jerked as if struck by lightning. This time she screamed, but her scream came different, raspy like what you would expect a lizard to sound like. Then it turned to a hiss. Her teeth grew into fangs that were longer than her mouth. Her beautiful skin dried and cracked and hardened, turning into scales underneath her touch. Her perfect nails were turning into claws. Her dress melted into her skin, turning her scales blue.

     "Calm down, Evie," Mal said, still caressing her cheeks. "Everything is going to be okay – AH!"

     Mal barely had time to retract her hand before a blue cobra tried to bite it. The other snakes reared and hissed angrily at Mal, their beady eyes glowing lamp-like yellow. Suddenly, Mal felt something coil around her waist. Mal looked down to see it to be a giant blue snake’s tail – that was connected to Evie's torso, which looked more serpentine by the second.

     "Oh, you are fucking with me!" Mal heard Percival complain. "This is so cliché!"

     Desperately, Mal looked around. Everybody was transforming... into their costumes. Only Mal and Percy were still normal. She saw Percy turn around and dart for something, his hands outstretched but she turned back her attention to Evie. The pressure around her waist grew until she could hardly breath. Suddenly, she was hoisted up and Evie, now a fully-fledged gorgon, rose too, her eyes closed. They rose nearly two meters high into the air. Mal was gasping for air, there was an annoying buzzing in her ears. She thought she heard Percy yell something. Evie pulled her closer to her face, as if she were about to kiss Mal and held her there. The world seemed to go to slow motion around Mal. Evie's eyelids opening slowly, her eyes were glowing gold.

     Suddenly, Mal felt a pull and Evie's embrace disappeared, the last thing in Mal's memory were her golden eyes half opened, shining like a sun peaking in the horizon. She was falling through someplace wet and cold, though oddly bright - a whitish-blue hue. It was as if a giant fish hook was pulling her through the water and then she hit something hard.

     She found her voice again. "EVIE!"

     It wasn't Evie who greeted her, nor a gorgon – no, it was something much nastier than a gorgon. Her mother. Mal yelped and crawled back. It took her a few seconds to realize that this was her mother's statue, the one the museum had in their Hall of Villains. Heat rose to her cheeks in embarrassment. She shook her head and tried to get up. She was able to do so, but barely and had to lean on a nearby potted tree for support. There were other people with her there – too much if twelve.

     There was Skadi, who for some reason had sprouted snow white wings and was humorously trying to balance herself as she tried to fly, kicking the air beneath her as if riding an invisible bicycle. There was a black panther and a llama laying on the ground. Ben was sitting, his hat tipped over his head. Jay was rubbing his head with his shield arm. And in the middle of it all, Percival de la Fleur, tall and straight backed, holding Poseidon's Trident as if he had been born to do so. The trident glowed silver in his hand. There was a nasty gash along his right cheekbone and on the back of his left hand, and there was a thick red mark around his neck.

     "I'm terribly sorry for that, guys," he said, literally crumbling out of the pose. He hunched his back and he rested his head on the trident. "This thing seems naturally programmed to do water based travels – not my first time travelling as a water molecule – still hate it, though."

     Skadi yelped as her wings entangled with each other and she fell. Percy immediately reacted and pointed the trident to the floor beneath her, making a large whale pillow appear at the spot. Skadi partly disappeared into the pillow when she fell. Percy frowned and tapped the trident like one taps a remote control when the batteries are running out.

     "Thank you!" Skadi breathed out; only her legs, the tip of her wings and an arm appearing.

     "You're welcome." Percy said.

     Suddenly, Mal found her voice again.

     “What the _fuck_ happened?”

     “It would seem that Horny back there did the old _crash-a-Halloween-costume-party-and-transform-everybody-into-their-fantasies_ trick.” Percy did not look at her as he talked, his attention focused on fussing over the trident – probably trying to deactivate the water-themed default system. “Typical, no creativity whatsoever.” He tapped the trident a couple of times against the floor and smiled contently when blue sparks flew from the prongs. Apparently satisfied with whatever he did, Percy turned his attention to Mal. “What I did was I transported everybody my magic sensed that would still be our allies after the transformation. But even in my full strength I wouldn’t have been strong enough to do so with this number of people – and I had been just thrown against a glass case. So I used the trident to augment my powers… and, uh, here we are.”

     Mal closed her eyes and brought a finger to each temple. Her ears were buzzing and she could feel her heart in her mouth. Images of Evie’s transformation playing repeatedly in her mind.

     “Is it going to be permanent?” Her voice came out weak.

     “I sincerely don’t know… in theory no spell is permanent. It could end upon dawn, it could have a counter spell or potion… but generally speaking defeating the Horned King would suffice.”

     “But is there a time limit?” She glared directly into Percy’s eyes. “I mean, if we don’t break the spell in time then –”

     “Stop!” Percy said with a firm voice. “I know you are worried, Mal, but despair in a situation like this will do her no good.”

     Mal nodded though the fact that he said _her_ and not _them_ went completely over her head. Percy had a point, if they were going to save the others and stop the Horned King she would have to use that stone heart and cold blood her mother had groomed her into having – though that was in no way easy. She had never been those things, try as she did; Mal guessed she had always been more “good” than Maleficent even when she was “bad”. And Auradon had, for good or bad, turned her soft or as soft as Mal could become.

     “Worry not, Chica,” The panther purred, her voice was Maya’s, bumping her head against the back of Mal’s head. “We will fix this.”

     “Aye, we shalt saveth them, fair maid.” Said Jay walking up to her. “And we shalt defeateth that vile fiend!”

     “Your right,” she said getting up.

     _Wait… did Jay just say saveth and fiend? And how can Maya talk?_ Yes, some animals did talk in Auradon, still, Maya wasn’t supposed to be able to talk when turned into a jaguar. Also, she didn’t feel any different and she had been wearing a fantasy all night. Mal turned to Percy.

     “Why is Jay talking like that? And how can Maya talk?”

     Percy shrugged. "Ask an easy question, Mal. It's magic. Don't think too hard about it." He tapped the trident on the floor. "Maybe it has something to do with how much stereotyped the fantasy is. Like Billy the Kid and  Lancelot over there." He pointed over his shoulder at Jay and Ben. "Maybe it has something to do with you."

     "What does that mean?"

     Percy pointed at Kuzco and Maya. "They dressed as animals. They were supposed to behave as such but maybe, subconsciously, they remembered of their father's multiple times as animals."

     "So the spell acted as if they had drank one of Yzma's potions!" Mal's eyes went wide. "And Skadi is Norse so -"

     "The spell just acted as if I had been chosen by Odin." Skadi concluded getting up and brushing ceiling dust off her armour.

     "But that doesn't explain me." Mal pointed out.

     "How much thought did you put on the fantasy?"

     "I lost a bet."

     "There you have it. Your lack of connection to the costume might have shield you from the spell." He shrugged. "Or maybe your fairy blood shielded you. Or maybe you can belly dance now. Either way, the trident recalled all who were still 'normal'."

     “I can hardly be described as ‘normal’.” Ally – or better, _Harley Quinn_ said.

     “Ya not lying, pumpkin’!” Ben said with a tip of his hat. “What type of lass goes around dressed like a jester? And holding a hammer?”

     “It’s a mallet!” Harley protested.

     “Yeah, because that hat is _so_ stylish.” Llama-Kuzco scoffed.

     “A talking donkey!” Jay exclaimed aghast.

     “ _I’m a llama!_ You eloquent tinman!”

     “Oh, for fucks sake!” Percy threw his hands in exasperation. “Don’t tell me some of you _actually_ lost your memory too!”

     “Tinman?” Jay cried unsheathing his sword. “I’m a knight of great valour and noble steel!” He pointed his sword at Kuzco. “Watch thou tongue foul beast or I shalt cut it loose! If only to see it twist and crawl like a vermin!”

     Maya barred her teeth. “Point that sword at my brother again and I’ll eat the morrow of your bones!”

     At this point Mal was just repeatedly face palming.

     “Ha! I fear you not you she-devil! Thou art to be silent, Panther of the Night! Hidest thee claws or I shalt trim them for thine!”

     Ben scratched his head with his gun (which Mal was pretty sure was against security protocols). “Is he speakin’ Greek?”

     “Nay,” Jay said. “I speak’st nought Greek!”

     Harley crossed her arms and huffed. “It’s Shakespearean. Read it in college.”

     “The fool hast more eloquence than thou!”

     “Hush now, Jay,” Jordan said. Her voice was a bit different but other than that she was perfectly normal.

     “M’lady…” he said, kneeling and kissing her hand.

     “Pussy.” Ben said.

     “What hast thy callest me?!”

     “You are a lot of talk,” said a tall man with white hair and a scar over his left cat-slit-eye and two swords sticking from his back. “I would like to see what it is worth…”

     “Boys, boys…” A woman with raven hair and smelling of lilac and gooseberries said stepping between them. “Both your cocks are impressive.”

     Kuzco laughed. “To fit inside that plate of armour I would think not.”

     “Kuzco shut up before you start another discussion!” Skadi hissed.

     “Fuck off, Snow Princess!” Maya roared stepping in front of her brother.

     Percy stepped in front Skadi and pointed Poseidon’s Trident at Maya. “Don’t you dare.” he warned in a dangerous voice – one only a Prince of the Underworld could invoke.

     Deadpool clapped happily. “Oh, good! We are about to have a massive group arguing!”

     In clue everybody started shouting at each other, brandishing weapons and throwing threats. The sound was so much that Mal ended up not hearing anything. Just an annoying buzz. She just stood there, feeling the cold draft against her exposed stomach and arms as she pinched the bridge of her nose until it hurt. And all the while an agglomerated of enchanted students were preparing for the Horned King’s assault on Auradon – which would catch every fucking single citizen unawares in the one single day everybody would be fantasised. All the while his cursed mist would reach the graveyards, crypts and mausoleums and raise all the dead, wraiths and whatnots of the realm and beyond. All the while these idiots were arguing with each other. All the while Evie – _her Evie_ – was down there, cursed – possibly in great pain – and Mal could do nothing.

     “SHUT UP!” Mal yelled and then she actually roared – like a dragon – the sound making the walls and windows shake and making it rain dust on them all from the ceiling. Everybody shut up and stared at her.

     “The scream to end the fight.” Deadpool narrated tapping a watch he was not wearing. “Just in time.”

     Mal gritted her teeth and ignored him. “We need to do something!” Mal screamed, her emotions getting the best of her. “All of our friends are down there! Can’t you fucking remember?!” She made a 360º spin in exasperation. “You know what? You really want to know what? I don’t fucking care! Sincerely? I don’t fucking care about a lot of people down there – and despite most of you being Auradonians, I doubt you care also! But I care about Carlos and Dude and Freddie and Jane and Audrey and fuck, yes, I care about Chad! I care about Mallory and Tigger and Sam and Herc and Charlie Whitmore, who tried to help me when he had no need to! But of all the fucking people I fucking care about in this fucking piece of _fucking_ floating rock in this _fucking_ universe is also down there! Evie, you know her? Blue hair, great smell, perfect smile or maybe you will remember her as your dress maker or maybe as the hot VK none of you ever had a real chance at – I don’t care, not really. I remember her, every single detail – every perfection and imperfection! And she’s down there! Brainwashed! Cursed! Alone! In the claws of that slimy piece of shit! And I’m here, hearing you bitch like a bunch of – I don’t even know! But I’m here not there saving the –” Mal chocked on her own emotion. “The – the – Ah!” She shrieked and this time it came out like a banshee’s cry. Making everybody cover their ears and bend over. “Saving the one person who means the world to me. The girl I love! Evie! I love Evie! _I love Evie!_ ” At this point Mal’s tears were falling without permission. It hurt holding them back but Mal didn’t cry. And yet, they fell, burning her cheeks, burning her eyes. Mal’s fists were white and her nails had dug into her palms so hard they were bleeding. “And she’s there _alone_. She needs my help! And I can’t! I’m useless! I’m fucking useless! And if there was one chance in saving her it was by using you guys! And you are fucking fighting!”

     In her rage Mal punched the wall. She immediately regretted her decision and yelled and cursed loudly as the pain shot up her arm. Eventually she threw herself against the wall, the dragon inside her growling as if wounded; all she could do at this point was try to hold her tears in. Suddenly, she felt an arm on her shoulder. She snapped her neck to the side to peer into Percy’s eyes.   

     "Calm down, Mal," he said gently. "You are right – entirely. And no one is more guilty of this than me.” He pulled a navy-blue silk handkerchief and started whipping her tears away. Like he used to do whenever Mal had a breakdown when she was younger – which given who she grew up with, happened a lot. Though Mal never cried. Never. Her tears would accumulate and leak. But Mal would never cry.“I should be the leader here, and yet, I joined the fray. But we will fix this together. I promise this by the Styx River. We'll save your girlfriend but first we have to think –"

     "She's not my girlfriend." Mal cut through.

     The memory of this fact hurt the most. _She shall never be yours_ , the fiend, as Jay had called him, told her. A mongrel and a beast at the same time. What would a princess like Evie want to do with her? Mal couldn’t even control her transformations properly – or her magic most of the time. She was a walking hazard. Couldn’t even protect her most beloved from such an obvious and cliché spell. Mal didn’t deserve somebody like Evie – not that the princess _wanted her_ in the first place. Evie wanted a castle and a prince; one thing Mal could not give her and the other she could not be.

     Percy frowned. "Oh," Then a smile spread over his face. "Haven't found the courage to ask her out yet, have you?"

     Mal rolled her eyes. "Dude, Evie's straight."

     For a couple of seconds, Percy looked at her incredulously. Then, out of the blue, he smacked her on the head with the trident.

     "OW!" Mal complained, rubbing her head as she stepped away from the wall and her blood-brother. "What was that for?!"

     "Because you are an idiot!" Percy said. "It's a giant trident coming in your direction, how didn't you see it?"

     Mal was confused. "What?"

     "It's a metaphor, dumbass," he explained, rolling his eyes."Eves is bisexual."

     "Oh," _Well that explained some things._ Mal shrugged. "Be that as it may, though, Evie only sees me as her best friend... a sister. I'm completely in the Friend Zone – OW!"

     Percy had smacked her again.

     "What was that for, now?!" she complained through gritted teeth.

     "It's called the Rafiki Technique. Now, think... before the trident hits you again."

     Mal thought. Was it possible that Mal had been that oblivious? Evie was caring towards most people… but… maybe she had been more caring towards Mal? Back in the Isle she would always insist of taking care of Mal’s wounds and she would run to Mal when her mother was too much and she always left her window open so Mal had a place to hide out when Maleficent was just too much. She had always been there… listening to her problems. She touched Mal all the time, hugged her all the time, leaned into her all the time. Every time Mal got herself in detention, Evie followed. They went everywhere together. She had been clearly upset when she thought Mal was feeling humiliated in her fantasy – had made it as little revealing as she could with the shawl to boost. Mal untied it from her waist too gaze at it, playing with the fringes – another detail Evie had made just for her. Blueberry had been thoroughly in rage when Slade slapped Mal. In the back of her head, through the memory of pain and iron, she could hear Evie’s despair over her predicament – she saw flashes of her face: desperate, scared and tearstained. Evie had wanted to tell her something… before Percy arrived, before all went to hell…

      "Evie loves me..." she breathed bringing the soft shawl to her cheek.

     She saw it this time, the trident; she dodged it, her mind distant and working furiously.

     "Took you a while." Percy stated.

     "You knew?"

     "Aye and shalt I say that madly is her love for thee." Jay said.

     "You all knew?"

     "Yup!" Ben said with a tip of his hat.

     "Yes." Jordan purred.

     "I had thought you two were banging already." Skadi admitted.

     All around her, the so many figures of pop culture nodded and mumbled words in agreement. Mal truly felt like an idiot and fought hard the urge not to bash her head against the wall in shame.

     “Hey, look!” Percy said. “Your ranting brought their memories back!”

     “It wasn’t her ranting,” Deadpool-Lonnie said. “It was her speaking the words from the heart – the magic of her tears that broke the spell on us.”

     “In other words,” said a bearded wizard Mal quickly recognized as Dumbledore. “It was love.”

     Lonnie tilted her red and black clad head. “Not exactly –”

     “ _It was love!_ ”

     “Undone entirely were the effects not.” Added Yoda appearing from between the figures that Mal now recognized as Geralt of Rivia and Yennefer of Vengerberg.

     “True,” said another bearded wizard in grey robes – Gandalf the Grey. “I can still feel the Grace of Valinor upon me.”

     “And Jay said ‘shalt’.” Jordan remembered her.

     “But you are normal.” Maya pointed out, trotting towards them soundlessly like a shadow. “Why don’t you take off the mask?”

     “I tried – its glued.”

     Mal clapped her hand. “Guys!”

     “Right!” Percy said and banged the trident against the tiles of the floor three times to get everybody’s attention. The sound that echoed sounded more like an angry wave, however, and left blackened marks upon the floor. “Battle preparations.”

 

     “And that’s how we will do it.” Percy finished drawing on the wall with the pen-mode of the trident. “Any questions?”

     Deadpool lifted his hand.

     “Yes?”

     “Are you sure about the _cannot-maim-or-kill_ rule?”

     “Yes – any other questions?”

     Harley Quinn raised her hand.

     “No, Harley, you can’t robe the museum while we are at it.”

     The jester pouted and mumbled something about Pamela always letting her steal stuff when they went on missions.

     “Thank you Batman, I would like you to keep an eye on her.”

     Wolverine lifted his hand. “Do you have any cigars with you, kid?”

     Percy face palmed. “No.”

     “I have a pipe.” Gandalf offered.

     “Better than nothing.”

     “Oi, luv!” Tracer called. “That’s bad for you!”

     Wolverine blew smoke into the air. “My lungs regenerate.”

     “And I’m immortal.” Gandalf added.

     Chandler Bing sighted. “I wish I was one of those things. Can I take just a drag –”

     “No!” Joey Tribbiani said. “This is serious, Chandler! Hey, by the way, can I have a sandwich before we go?”

     Percy banged his trident again. “Guys! Focus!”

     Jon Snow lifted his hand. “Is this going to take too long? Because I kind of have to get back to my Dragon Queen _and_ take care of a wall problem back home.”

     “I wouldn’t worry about that.” said the 12th Doctor.

     “Yeah,” said the 10th. “It’s highly unlikely your real version in your respective dimension has been effected.”

     Mal growled. “I thought your memories had returned.”

     “I wouldn’t say that,” Said the 11th Doctor. “But rather that our minds are in sync with who we were and we have self-awareness we are not actually ourselves.”

     “Yeah!” Harley Quinn exclaimed. “Like, the real Jon Snow doesn’t even know what happened at the wall yet.”

     “You understood that?” Skadi asked.

     “Of course, I’m nuts.” Harley-Ally remembered them.

     Mal felt her skin being pocked.

     “For the thousandth time, Hiccup!” Mal said trying to control her rage and failing. “I can’t control my transformation! You can ride Spyro for this mission.”

     “Okay! That’s enough!” Percy snapped. “We’ll go outside now! And –” He sighted. “Yes, Professor Jones?”

     Indiana Jones rose from his seat. “I would just like to remember you all to take care of the museum pieces.”

     Many of the present mumbled annoyed at the pretence of being careful. Percy seemed surprised and pleased that somebody said something reasonable in this world’s strangest war council.

     “Right, thank you, Indiana Jones,” He jumped down from the dais. “Now! To victory my friends! But before we go I have a Greek Poem to uplift our hearts for the battle to come –”

     Immediately the seats were vacated and their allies stormed out of the room, screaming battle cries, catchphrases or just screaming really. Some did stay back, however, the ones who had never properly lost their memory or regained it better like Jay and Ben.

     Mal smirked, pushing herself from the wall. “You did that on purpose.”

     “It was the only way.”

     “YEE-HAW!” Ben yelled flipping his hat. “Let’s ride out, partners!”

     “Yes and we shalt defeat the vile fiend!” Sir Jay proclaimed, brandishing his sword. He turned to Jordan. “And when we are done I shalt take thee to my keep and we shalt make the beast with two backs!”

     Jordan giggled in a silly way Mal thought she would never hear coming from her, and melted into Jay in such a way Mal thought she would never see her doing.

     “Please tell me you filmed that.” Mal told Percy.

     He tapped his trident. “I’m already posting it.”

     Jay seemed oblivious to their mockery, however. Instead he kissed Jordan’s hand and jumped on Kuzco’s back.

     “Ride out, noble steed!” he cried unsheathing his sword.

     “I’m a llama not a – Ah!” Kuzco gave a most girly scream when Jay spurred him and started running.

     Maya rolled in the ground in laughter in a way only a jaguar could.

     “Before we go, though,” Percy said and turned to Mal. “In spite of what the media would have you believe Mal, going to a fight using something like _that_ isn’t a good idea.”

     Mal looked down and laughed. She was about to point out that there was no time to change when she noticed one of the statues they had discarded in the corner.

 

     “You know… I find it uncanny how much you look like your mother in those robes.” Percy told her. “Were the horns really necessary?”

     They were running down a corridor lined with the banners of the many noble houses of Auradon. Ben, Jordan, Skadi were right behind them and Maya, with her jaguar speed, was many meters ahead.

     Mal shrugged. “Mother told me many times that they would grow eventually, I guess I should get used to the weight… You don’t think Evie would mind that, do you?”

     Percy laughed. “Never did I think I would live to see Maleficent Junior self-conscious about her appearance. No, Mal, I doubt it. Evie is vain regarding herself but not you. Trust me, she overlooks worst qualities than _horns_.”

     She decided to ignore that last remark. “I never thought I would wear these.” Mal admitted without wanting to. “At first it was because I thought I would never live up to my mother’s expectations – that I would never be worthy of the honour. Then it was because I chose good and sided with Auradon.” She laughed. “Ironic, isn’t it? I finally donned my mother’s clothes – filled her boots – to fight a villain and save the day. I’m still unworthy _and_ I’m good, two things I shouldn’t be if I were to wear these robes and yet, here I am.”

     “Quite a contradiction, isn’t it? Chaotic, I would say. So I see nothing odd.”

     “Oh? And why is that?”

     “Because, Little Dragon, you’ve never been short of chaotic.”

     “That’s all very heart-warming,” Jordan said, joining them. She was clutching a map in her hands. “But maybe we would like to cut through the Egyptian exposition?”

     In a faint memory of the museum’s map, Mal remembered that one of the exit’s of that exposition led to a small section of the Aztec Age which then led to the Universe Staircase, which would lead them directly to the Ice Age Exposition then through Cretaceous Gallery and then – the Horner King and her Evie.

     “Fine,” Mal buffed and made a quick turn to her right.

     The entrance to the exposition loomed before them. Four gigantic statues of pharaohs flanked the door, two on each side, and above the door a fifth figure, smaller and with a disk behind it. A sign read: Reproduction of the Abu Simbel temples. Beyond the large rectangular door Mal could make out a series of Egyptian columns with many objects on the walls and randomly positioned in the middle of the room. Percy and Maya were the first through, Mal and Jordan right behind them.

     “Uh oh.” Percy said coming to a halt.

     _Uh oh_ was at the same time an euphemism and the wrong thing to say. Euphemism because it didn’t properly describe the thought of running into a room filled with mummies. Wrong because it attracted the attention of said mummies. Glancing at the floor (partially because staring at decomposing faces was _not_ pleasant) Mal noticed that the floor was covered in green mist.

     “Okay,” Percy breathed, his hands encasing in fire. “Sorry Egyptologists, but it’s time to light the pyre.”

     Mal was inclined to let him put fire on the exposition but then she noticed one of the mummies wore a beanie.

     “Percy, no!” Mal held his arm. “Sam’s there.”

     “And you could ruin the artefacts!” Indiana Jones pointed out.

     Percy snapped his head at the archaeologist. “Where did _you_ come from?”

     “Also, you could put fire to the museum.” Skadi pointed out.

     Percy seemed about to protest when Sam released a blood curling scream and the mummies charged.

     “Don’t!” Mal told the demigod.

     “For crying out loud, fine!”

     Instead of causing a fire, he charged at the mummies, which at first seemed suicidal but then he turned into a rhino and either smashed or flung all the undead in his path. Sam, who seemed to be in charge of the mummy host, jumped out of the way and lunged at them; at first she ran on all fours, her bony claws digging and scratching the stone but when she got closer to Mal she rose to her feet. Indiana Jones whip cracked loudly, biting at her legs and making the daughter of Aladdin fall down. Taking her opportunity, Mal blasted Sam into an open sarcophagus lined against the wall. Before she could recover, Mal bolted forward and smashed herself against the lid close. Despite the pandemonium going around her, Mal took a deep breath of relief. _At least one is safe_. Sam seemed to disagree with her and started growling and banging against the lid, almost throwing Mal off the sarcophagus the first time.

     “Sarcophagus of yore, hear my plea, seal up until Sam’s curse is lifted.”

     Sam continued trashing, the sarcophagus rattled and howled and punches from the inside started peppering the its gilded surface but it did not open. _I love magic_ , Mal thought breathless. Suddenly she was pushed against a pillar decorated with hieroglyphs. One of the mummies held her with a decomposing hand, pushing her chest against the pillar with so much strength her lungs could hardly move and her ribs started making odd sounds. The creature’s face was a rotten grey-brown with only three teeth and floating red orbs for eyes. Mal was about to kick the corpse’s legs when there was a loud _bang_ and the pharaoh’s head exploded. Mal dropped to the floor spluttering, resting a hand over the spot where the monster had held her. _That’s going to bruise_. Looking up, she found Ben right opposite to her, smiling. He tilted his hat at her when their eyes met.

     “Never thought I’d see you with a gun.” Mal admitted as she helped herself up.

     Nonchalantly, and without looking, Ben shot another mummy that was charging at him from the side.

     “Don’t get used to it, partner.”

     The fight went on around them. A gorilla, that could only be Percy, was picking up and throwing mummies with one hand while he swung at others with Poseidon’s trident while Indiana Jones yelled at him for almost knocking down statues at the same time he shot other mummies. Maya was facing off a horde of pet mummies (which included crocodiles). Jordan was blasting anything that got close to her. And Skadi was basically making the world’s ugliest ice statue collection.

     Mal laughed. “Okay. Time to end this.”

     Smirking mischievously at the prospect of what she was about to do, Mal stomped on the ground. She willed the mist to serve her. It became a different shade of green – more like that of her own spells. With a wave of her hands the mist exploded, making the mummies fly and crash back down. They didn’t rise and there was no more mist – for now.

     “I hope you all saw that because I’m not doing it again!” Mal told them before collapsing against the pillar.

     “It won’t last,” Percy stated. “We need to go.”

     “Give her a minute” Jordan said.

     “We don’t have a minute.” Percy said.

     “He’s right,” Mal said walking on stiffened legs. She could feel the Cauldron’s mist rolling back, pushing against Mal’s will – if anything, staying here was draining her power. “First the mission, then I can pass out.”

     That did not mean she couldn’t lean on somebody for a bit of support as they ran. Ben seemed more than pleased to let her. He hooked his left arm beneath both her arms and practically dragged her through the rest of the exposition. They exited it to a quick sea of white and gold and red carpet that was the corridor between the expositions. This one had paintings of the Royal Navy along with some pictures of infamous pirates like Long John Silver and Blackbeard. But Mal barely had time to recognize any more as they quickly crossed two great jaguar statues and plunged into a sea of green. The lights here were dim and there were many great stone statues and objects placed on pedestals and daises. The most obvious was one of the great circular calendars with a face in the middle. Beneath it Mal noticed that Freddie was there, lunging lazily on a highly stylized jaguar statue as if it were a couch. She noticed Mal, waved but made no sign of joining them or stopping them. _Well, Calypso was always somewhat neutral_ , Mal thought as she turned her head back to the exit. In the dimness it was like a great door of light just a few meters away. She could already see bits of the space montage they had made for the staircases. But just then somebody stepped in front of them.

     “Stop right there, yer land lovers!”

     It was Mallory in front of them – pointing a flintlock pistol in their direction with one hand and holding a cutlass with the other.

     “Oh, for crying out loud!” Skadi exclaimed. “Why couldn’t you be like Jack Sparrow?”

     Mallory shrugged. “I work for the highest bidder – savvy?”

     Mal gave a step forward and Captain Mallory pointed the pistol at her, aiming for her head. She did not raise her hands nor blink at the sight, it wasn’t the first time a pirate had threatened her with a loaded flintlock, and she doubted it would be the last.

     “Tsk, tsk,” Mallory shook her head. “Be a good lass now and come without a fuss.”

     Skadi sighted. “Remember, bestie, you asked for this.”

     The pirate did turn her head smirking smugly; probably going to make some remark at how she shouldn’t be the one doing threats or something along those lines. But she didn’t have the opportunity as Skadi lifted two fingers to her lips and whistled.

     “ _Kuzco!_ ” She then yelled louder than Mal thought possible – maybe she was using some sort of Valkyrie power to augment her voice? “ _Mallory needs your help!_ ”

     Faster than Mal deemed humanly possible for a llama, Kuzco came running out of a corner; quick as lightning, little more than a red and black blur and smashed into Mallory, tackling her to the floor and making her weapons fly way out of reach and sight.

     “Don’t worry, my love,” Kuzco said as he sat on her. “I will protect you!”

     Unsurprisingly, Mallory seemed to not like the fact that there was a talking llama sitting on top of her.

     “Get off me you talking donkey!”

     “Why does everybody call me a donkey? I’m a llama!”

     Mallory tried and tried but she couldn’t get the animal off of her.

     “Quick thinking.” Percy said.

     Skadi blushed and tried to fix it with a shrug. “Yeah, well – I just know them.” And then a smirk appeared in her face. “You know what might save her Kuzco? A true love’s kiss.”

     Mallory immediately stopped trashing and glared at her.

     “You bitch.”

     That made Skadi smile even more.

     “You think it would work?” The prince asked, smiling – or at least a llama’s version of a smile.

     “Possibly. But you know, contrary to what stories would have you believe, it doesn’t always work the first time around. So if it doesn’t work the first time, keep trying until it does.”

     Kuzco tilted his head. “Really?”

     Mallory glared at them and started shaking her head desperately. Skadi’s smirk only widened.

     “Totally.”

     Kuzco smiled and gasped at the same time as he looked from them to the pirate multiple times.

     “ _You bitch_.”

     “Have fun, bestie, Ta da!” Skadi waved her fingers as they passed by.

     “Tough luck, mate.” Mal said before running after the others.

     The Universe staircase was exactly what it said on the tin. A giant escalator that passed through a replica of planet Earth and led to the hall bellow filled with space related thingies. Around them were replicas of the planets, dangling from the ceiling on steel cables.

     “Can’t this thing go any quicker?!” Mal protested impatiently.

     They were bathed in red as the escalator crossed the core of the earth, its many layers outlined to them.

     “You can run if you want,” Percy pointed out.

     Suddenly they heard a high-pitched cackle of a laugh that screamed of witch. And there she was, Audrey in all her sorcery glory standing atop Saturn.

     “Bored are we, Malsie?” She mocked with another shriek of a laugh. “Come on, let us play!”

     Her hands glowed green as she willed some of the asteroids placed randomly about them to break free and fly in their direction. Mal was racking her mind to try and remember something to protect and counter-attack but Percy was quicker. He lifted Poseidon’s Trident, which shone blue and green. The asteroids immediately transformed into plush marine animals and fell to the ground. Audrey shrieked bloody and struck the son of Hades with a lightning bolt. The trident took the burnt for him but he was still sent flying from the escalator. Mal’s heart froze for a second before she remembered he was a shapeshifter and moments later he turned to a raven, swooped back down on a step in front of her and turned back into a human being, the trident flying back to his hands like a boomerang.

     “You guys go,” Jordan told them and snapped her fingers. She disappeared in a puff of lilac smoke and reappeared on top of Mars, her hands glowing dark pink.

     “Come on, you old hag!” she yelled at Audrey. “Show me what you got!”

     Their magical battle made bathed the room in shocking shades of magenta and green. Mal watched in half fascination and horror as the escalator went rolling on. Never had she imagined Jordan to be so powerful. Audrey? That wasn’t Audrey, just a puppet and her powers came from the Cauldron. But Jordan? Mal doubted those bursts of magic had anything to do other than herself. She was so distracted with their fight that Mal only noticed the end of the escalator when he feet were inches from it. She jumped, barely taking her eyes from the fight the whole time. No one did – and that was their mistake.

     "And where do you think you're going?" Asked a rough voice

     Mal took a deep breath because she recognized the voice. She turned, silently cursing Doug for his fantasy choice. Sure enough, General Grievous loomed before them in the flesh... eh... in the metal. With that classical laugh of his he threw his cape away and each arm split into two. Four lightsabres erupted from his hands, their light nearly blinding, a mixture of blue and green.

     "I'm seriously going to kill Doug." Mal whispered.

     "I'll take care of him." Skadi said.

     Before any of them could point out how suicidal that idea was, Skadi had flown over. A Viking sword made of ice appeared in each hand. General Grievous laughed and attacked, swinging his four arms down. For a moment Mal held her breath, fearing the worse. Miraculously, Skadi's blades held Grievous'. Maybe she could will the ice to be cold enough to resist the lightsaber's heat or maybe she was using some sort of Valkyrie magic. Either way, she was resisting. And how. The two were barely more than a blur, at times one attacking and then the other. As fascinating as it was, though, they had to save the world. Or something in those lines. Mal looked at Percival, whose face was aghast with wonder.

     "I so have an erection right now," he whispered.

     Mal rolled her eyes. "Come on, Perce!" She pulled the son of Hades back into a run.

     At that point their little group consisted only of her, Percy, Ben and Maya. For the life of her, Mal could not remember where they had lost sight of Indiana Jones – maybe at the Aztec’s? It mattered little at this point in time, as they sped through rockets, meteors and schematics of the planets to enter a corridor about geology. It was dimly lit and entirely black, carpet, wall and ceiling; save for the thousands of different gems glittering behind the glass cases illuminated with a golden-white light. Despite her sense of urgency, Mal had to admit that it took a lot of will not to robe any – okay, she was salivating a little. A very angry growl made her stop dead in her tracks. She turned her head to see a great wolf partially walking on its hind legs prowling towards her, his teeth bared. His eyes glowed red and his brindled fur was black and white. The beast had been hiding in one of the many resting niches behind some of the benches, or better, laying in wait for some prey to pass by.

     “Hey, Carlos,” Mal said soothingly lifting her hands. “It’s Mal,” The werewolf tilted his head. “You remember me, right?”

     Carlos snarled and lunged at her. Mal rolled out of the way and the werewolf crashed into a glass case filled with different types of diamonds. He whipped around as if nothing had happened, tiny bits of glass and gems falling down his hide harmlessly. Carlos snarled at her one more time. Ben and Percy both appeared beside her, pointing their weapons at the werewolf.

     “ _NO!_ ” Mal said, grabbing both their arms

     Carlos lunged at them and Maya tackled him to the ground. The werewolf was much bigger than the jaguar (which was near invisible in the black room thanks to its black fur).

     “Go!” Maya said seconds before Carlos grabbed her and tossed her to the side.

     Maya got up no worse for wear and lunged again at the werewolf, both beasts rolling and bashing against the glasses and benches.

     “Let’s go!” Mal told the two. “Maya’s got this.”

     Ben did the honours of bursting the doors to the Ice Age open. And they entered into an actual battlefield. Never had it occurred to Mal that extinct animals could be turned into Cauldron Born. But here they were, their few allies facing off sabre-toothed cats, direwolves, giant lions, mammoths, giant elks, rhinos, bison and aurochs and even primitive hominids. And for some given reason even their replicas were facing them off. Suddenly a woolly mammoth came crashing in front of them, Legolas Greenleaf jumping off it gracefully.

     “That still only counts as one!” Gimli yelled running pass them to hack at a dire wolf skeleton.

     Mal head was spinning. It was too much to take in. Wolverine having a showdown with a sabre-tooth as Captain America tried to reason with wax cavemen. Chandler running from a bony arm as Joey threw random things at it.

     “Look what I’ve found,” drawled a very annoying and unfortunately familiar voice. Art Slade didn’t look any different from when Mal had last seen him, save the cavemen bodyguards he now had.

     “Hadn’t I locked you in a closet?” she asked annoyed.

     The hunter cocked his gun. “Aye, but my new friends,” he gesticulated to the wax cavemen. “got me out.”

     “Well, I be damned.” Ben mused before firing his colt.

     Naturally, because the cavemen were made of _wax_ , nothing happened except them becoming _very_ annoyed.

     “Tsk, tsk,” Slade chided, “That wasn’t very clever, was it now?”

     There were about five of them plus Slade pointing his rifle directly at Mal. The cavemen held their clubs threateningly as they slowly formed a half circle around them. Snarls came from behind them. Mal chanced a look back and saw three skeletal wolves walking towards them.

     “Percy,” Ben called, his eyes locked on the hunter. “Can you use that big fork of yours to get Mal out of here?”

     “Sure thing,” he said grabbing Mal’s arm.

     “No –”

     The world swirled blue and white before she could complete her phrase. Mal felt herself stretched and flattened as she flew until her feet hit solid ground. Immediately she was welcomed by a T-Rex skeleton roaring at her face. Mal sincerely thought she was going to be swallowed right there and then until the dinosaur reared back and started trashing about.

     “Weeeeeeeeeeee!” cried Harley-Ally on the fossil’s back.

     Lonnie, er, Deadpool, was also doing some dinosaur riding but on a Triceratops.

     “Careful with the raptors!” he yelled.

     The warning came too late as one of the bony predators lunged at her from the side. This time, Mal’s rage took over. The pale skin of her hands turned into purple scales and her nails turned into razor sharp claws. Ever since the boat incident, Mal barely had been able to turn into a dragon but at times, particularly when her rage was in effect, she could pull some draconic tricks. Her hands shot out in reflex and she grabbed the raptor by its jaws, locking it in place as the animal trashed against her steel grasp. She could feel her eyes glow.

     “I’ve had to leave too many people behind today,” Mal snarled pushing the beast’s jaws apart. “Don’t test my patience!”

     One of its pack mates tried to help him but Percy stabbed him in the rib cage with the trident. Harley’s T-Rex snatched a third, though Mal wasn’t sure if that was for her benefit or because it was throwing a tantrum. Mal didn’t see the fourth. She only heard it when it was too late, when it was already lunging behind her.

     “Charge!”

     Jay rode pass her on a horse (she had no idea where he found it) and lanced the fourth raptor. Mal heard it fall and break into many pieces. She turned her attention back to the his brother. With a cry of rage, she broke the two jaws apart and the whole skeleton crumbled before her.

     “I will cover for thou!” he said jumping from his horse and unsheathing his sword. “Fly!”

     Mal nodded and ran. How much control the Horned King had over the dinosaurs was questionable because they were fighting each other chaotically – so possibly none. Mal had to dodge many tails and dance around massive feet until she and Percy had finally managed to get out of the room. Jay was never far behind, hacking and catching the attention of the more aggressive fossils for them but he stopped short of following them out of the room. When he was certain they had left, he turned back to face the reformed raptors.

     They returned to the checked atrium, where they were met with the most comic image of a donkey eating the velvet drapes and Olaf sitting beside it on a chair, his tiny feet dangling. It was almost as if he was completely oblivious to the chaos that the museum had fallen into.

     “The kids are just going through a phase.” He told them patting the donkey who ignored him and kept eating the drapes.

     “Yeah… um… Olaf? Stay here, will you?” Mal told him. The snowman was probably the last being here which could actually get hurt but she was worried about him.

     “Okay!” he said brightly.

 

     The double doors were locked. Percy shoved it furiously but they wouldn’t budge.

     “Let me,” Mal said pushing him aside. “Make it simple, make it quick. Open up without a kick.”

     The doors opened gently. Mal smirked at Percy and entered the room. It was green – very green. Maybe a bit too much green, even for Mal and she _loved_ that colour. The mist was so thick it choked her, the smell of sulphur burned nose, throat and lungs. And there, upon the dais was the Horned King behind his cauldron where the mist poured out like lava from a volcano. He had a bodyguard. A gladiator – Chad, it could only be him but the armour was a bit different, his face hidden in shadows, only bright red eyes visible. The fiend’s eyes fell on them as they entered and he smiled.

     “You took your time!” he said. “I must admit, son of Hades, that it was clever of you to use my own soldiers against me. But you should’ve used them to open a way for you to flee. Now, you face me and my hounds.”

     “Hounds?” Mal asked.

     She spotted movement coming from behind the dais and then a great snake reared from behind the Horned King. No… not a snake. Suddenly Percy threw her behind a sideways table and pulled her to the ground.

     “ _Evie is not your hound!_ ” Mal roared and was about to get up to give the king a piece of her mind but Percy pulled her back down and smashed his hand against her mouth.

     “Your chivalry is admirable Mal, but we have to have a talk about your suicidal tendencies.”

     Mal ripped his hand away from her mouth. “Do you have a plan?”

     “Since I know you want to deal with her – I won’t waste my time convincing you not to. So I’ll take the gladiator.”

     “Okay!” she said getting up but Percy pulled her back down.

     “Another thing, use your phone.”

     “What?”

     “Or a mirror, anything. So you can actually look at Evie… otherwise… you know.”

     “Right.” Mal said pulling her phone out of the robe’s sleeve. “Can we go now?”

     Percy nodded. He silently started counting but when he got to three the table was cut in half. Chad loomed over them wielding a sword in one hand, the other hand encased in a steel tube that covered his entire forearm and ended with what looked like an axe.

     “Hey, Spartacus,” Percy said and in a blink of an eye the two were gone and many meters away a gladiator and a lion trashed on the ground.

     Suddenly Mal was grabbed by the waist and lifted from the ground. Immediately, she closed her eyes shut. The sound of hisses in her ears was painfully close and she could feel Evie’s hot breath in her face. Mal could literally feel, Evie’s piercing gaze on her skin like she could feel the sun burning her in a hot day.

     “Can’t petrify me if my eyes are closed, eh?”

     The mock did not come unanswered. Mal felt Evie’s tail flex and she flew down and seconds later pain flared from her right side; she flew again and pain flared from her left side. Bang, bang, bang the sound echoed each time Evie smashed her against the floor like a ragdoll. Then she brought her up. Mal could feel the gorgon’s glare and suddenly she was flying and crashing against a table filled with sweets. Despite the pain, Mal flung herself behind the table and rested her head against it, opening her eyes. Looking at her arms she found them covered in bruises.

     “This is going to hurt tomorrow,” she stated to herself.

     The sound of metal on metal grabbed her attention. She looked to her right. Chad was trying to attack Percy with his sword and axe but the demigod kept him at bay with the trident at the same time as he threatened to throw a net on top of him. It took Mal a good time to figure out it was the Net of Rán but much smaller – how Percy had been able to shrink it was beyond Mal’s comprehension. At the other end of the room, the Horned King stood over his cauldron chanting something, probably a spell to make the mist spread faster but Mal was too far away to be able to hear the words. His two pets were perched on his shoulder, gazing deeply into the cauldron. Suddenly Mal heard a great yell and she turned her eyes to see Chad on the floor, the iron net over him. Percy leaned against the wall tapping a sword wound he had received to his sides. Mal tentatively got up to help him, pain flared up her bodies, he muscles feeling heavier and more knotted by the second. She froze when she heard a loud hiss followed by a series of smaller ones. Mal hastily pulled her phone and looked at the reflex. Yep, Evie was coming at her. Her eyes were of a glowing gold, which didn’t fit her at all.

     Mal leaped from behind the table as Evie’s tail came crashing down and rolled when it whipped in her direction. She sprang up and lunged behind Evie. That was when she saw Chad again and an idea fired up in her mind. She pulled her shawl free and held it in one hand.

     “I have no time for a rhyme, so just grow to a great size!”

     She flung the shawl and it grew and like a net trapped Evie. The girl trashed under the silk but that only made her get more stuck. She hissed and howled in frustration. But she did not get away – it was a good thing Evie made her clothes highly resistant. _How_ she made them like that, Mal had no idea.

     “Evie…” Mal called her tentatively but when she touched the silk, the girl only trashed more making Mal recoil her hands hastily. “Evie, it’s me – it’s your Mal. Don’t you remember me?”

     The hiss she released then was more like a roar and was laced with pain. Mal stretched her hand to touch the shawl again but somebody grabbed her arm and quickly pulled her away. Percy only let go when they were beside the doors.

     “First, we have to defeat the Horned King,” he told her, holding her shoulder with one hand.

     Mal’s eyes fell down, the weight of her failure in protecting Evie hovering over her head like a cloud. That was when she noticed Percy’s side. There was a nasty cut there, not deep but certainly ugly and bleeding.

     Percy let go of her shoulder and brought his hand to hold his wound. “Don’t worry about it,” he told her. “Seriously, I once survived a poisoning from the Chimera, without medicine. I just waited for it to wear off – I don’t know how I survived that but I did. It’s a long story, tell you later.”

     Mal nodded stiffly and turned her head. First her eyes fell on Evie but she forced them to look at the Horned King. He now lifted his arms, his voice was rougher now and quieter. The mist coiled around him thickly like a whirlpool and the cauldron vomited more and more of the green thing. Mal swore she could see lightening coming from its depths.

     "How was the Horned King defeated the first time?" she asked. The occurrences of his tale were only had a faint memory in Mal’s mind.

     "Some fluffy thing threw itself into the cauldron to save his friends."

     Evie roared again, still trashing against the shawl which was miraculously holding her down. Maybe Mal had subconsciously cast more than one spell on it. Suddenly Evie cried again, now definitely in pain, the mist was coiling around the shawl now. It was a quick thing, if Mal hadn’t been paying attention on both figures, she wouldn’t have noticed, but the corner of the Horned King’s lips twitched upwards betraying how his eyes were serious and glued to his beloved cauldron. That was when Mal understood, he was actually hurting Evie to provoke Mal. That pain she was hearing wasn’t out of being netted, she was actually being tortured. Mal’s heart shattered, she could hear it and feel the pieces ripping the inside of her chest and lungs and falling to cut her stomach.

     "So we need a sacrifice to stop the cauldron?" she asked. Her mind already set on what she had to do. Somehow she knew it would work and Percy would have a stronger ally to take the monster down.

     "I'm not sure -"

     Mal didn't wait for him to finish and darted towards Evie, who was still trashing about in the shawl.

     "Mal!" Percy called. "Don't!"

     She ignored him and pulled the shawl away. Evie reared up slowly, looking at her from above. At first Mal just stared at her collarbone.

     "We need you, Evie. Come back, please."

     She looked up, eyes glowing green. She met Evie's glare with one of her own, gazing deep into her eyes. She started feeling her feet and legs stiffen, and then her torso and arms. But Mal kept her gaze locked with Evie's and it seemed to Mal that behind those vertical pupils she could see warm brown eyes, as if from behind stained glasses.

     "I love you." she whispered as darkness took over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... another cliffhanger, I'm cruel like that. But I promise the next chapter won't take so long to come out.


	6. Falling and Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, I promised it wouldn't take so long for this one - the last one. I would like to thank you all for the patience and for reading.  
> Enjoy!

     Evie was floating. From time to time she felt as if something moved around her, like a breeze or a pair of wings, but if it was something she could not see because everything was pitch black. It was calming to a degree but at the same time she felt claustrophobic and lonely. The last thing she remembered was a blinding pain and then here she was, alone and cold. She had tried to call for her friends at first, Mal in particular, but her voice didn't work. That was when Evie had started panicking, grasping at her throat and crying - though still no sound nor tears came out. For how long she had stayed like that she didn't know but it was time enough for her to just give up and stay floating in the limbo. It was eerily peaceful. _Am I dead?_ Evie thought not, in the very least she would have gone to the Underworld and Percy had shown her pictures of the place – and this most certainly wasn't it.

     Eventually, after she-didn't-know-how-long, she gave up hope. Or at least, she thought she had but as she laid there in her despair she remembered of Mal’s bright smile, the sound of her laugh, the gleam of her green eyes and how royal her purple hair seemed. It had been a sunny day of sorts, the memory, Mal had been eating strawberries. That was when she remembered that if there was one being in the universe that would not give up on her was Mal. If there was one thing she could be certain of was that Mal would do the impossible to find her. With Mal, Hope was never lost. It was exactly at the moment she realized that that she heard Mal's voice.

     "I love you."

     With no warning, she was pulled forward by some invisible force, like a fish on a fishing hook. And suddenly there was light and noise again. For a beautiful moment her heart lifted, only to crumble when she saw Mal.

     "Mal?!" she cried and cupped her face. "Mal?!"

     She was grey, cold and hard to the touch as a – as a statue. Evie looked at her hands, they were blue and scaly with wicked claws. Hisses filled her ears.

     "No..." Evie said softly. "No, no, no! NO!!!"

     She started crying as realization hit her like a moving train. Evie retracted her hands and cradled her own chest, releasing a series of painful sobs.

     "What have I done?!” she cried desperately, her claws racking her scalp, her snakes hissing in protest. “What have I done?!" Her tears fell over Mal's petrified face and she tried to wipe them with her scaly hands.

     "Evie." Somebody called.

     For some reason, hearing that voice lit up a burning rage inside her chest. _Leave me alone!_ she screamed in her head but her mouth translated that as an angry growl. Evie turned aggressively, hissing and barring her fangs. But then she saw a sight that in any other circumstance would've been comical: Percy half crouched, half wobbling towards her; his right hand clasped tightly over his eyes and holding a pair of sunglasses in his outstretched left hand, as if he was going to feed it to some type of monster. Which, giving the circumstances, may just be true.

     When Evie finally understood why he was offering her the sunglasses (either that or sunglasses warded of gorgons) she gulped a sob and slithered towards him. She snatched the sunglasses from his hand and put them on.

     "You can look now," she told him as she slithered back to Mal. Gods, she hated how tired she sounded.

     Unconsciously, Evie started coiling around her best friend protectively.

     “Evie, listen to me,” Percy said. By the corner of her eyes she saw the trident fly into his hand. “Everything is going to be alright.”

     The laugh that escaped her lips was bitter and venomous, more like one of the Evil Queen’s laughs than any she had ever released. "Alright?! Alright?!” she cried cupping Mal’s cheeks. “I killed my best friend! I – I killed the girl I love – my princess. I killed my perfect princess!"

     "No, you didn't."

     Evie laughed bitterly again. "I turned her to stone!"

     "Exactly! She's petrified, not dead. A relatively easy condition to fix. Potions, running water, blessings... _breaking the Horned King's spell over you_."

     Evie turned her head sharply to the king and hissed. He barely paid her any attention whatsoever.

     "Do you think it will work?"

     "If not we can put her under my shower."

     Evie looked down at Mal and traced her cheeks and lips.

     "I can't leave her vulnerable like this,” she said looking back at the demigod.

     "Okay… wait." He brought two fingers to his lips and whistled. "Sir Jay, we have need of your aid!"

     Moments later she heard the sound of bone against stone and Jay busted through the front door… riding a Utahraptor fossil? Yes, he was riding a living Utahraptor fossil. And yes, she knew the species – she was taking Palaeontology I for the extra credits.

     “What is the matter – O Holy Ghost! Evie, what happened to thee?”

     “What happened to me? You just said ‘thee’!” Evie shook her head. “Watch over Mal, while me and Percy kick his ass will you?”

     Jay nodded and got down from his fossil. He unsheathed his sword dramatically. “By my sword and honour, I shall, fair maid! I vow to protect the purple-haired beauty on the love of my lady, Jordan, to keep an ever faithful watch upon –”

     “Okay!” Evie snapped. “That’s enough.”

     A rough and terrible laugh echoed in her ears. She turned to the king and hissed, making sure he could see all her pointy teeth, her snakes hissed with her, lunging forward as if blown by a strong wind. He seemed completely unfazed.

     “Now, this isn’t fair at all,” he said. His scarlet eyes flicked upon Chad and with a flexing of his finger the Net of Rán flew off the gladiator. Chad rose in eerie silence, picking up his fallen sword and brandishing it.

     Percy gave a step forward but Jay stopped him.

     “Nay, friend,” he said. “Thou must defeateth the fiend, I shalt dealeth with the other”

     Evie was pretty sure he was using those words wrongly or just outright inventing them but she wasn’t going to go over a grammar lesson right now.

     “Chivalry!” Jay suddenly cried a bit too dramatic. “Defendeth the Lady Mal the Purple!”

     It took a few moments for Evie to realize that Chivalry was the name of the raptor.

     “For Auradon the Fair!” he cried and advanced at Chad.

     This time, the laugh that escaped Evie’s lips were sweet and filled her with strength. With a growl of her own she slithered towards the king. His pets swooped down at her, claws extended. Without breaking her run, Evie quickly pulled her sunglasses down. One of the wyverns immediately turned to stone and fell to the ground, shattering upon impact. Evie swiped at the other with her tail, sending it flying like a ball; it crashed through the window and disappeared in the dark night beyond. Before the Horned King could react, Evie lunged at him coiling around the wretched creature, making sure to squeeze him as much as she could, and lifting him. She bared her fangs and hissed as she unleashed the full strength of her glare at him. But nothing happened. The Horned King laughed amusedly.

     “I don’t really have eyes, you know,” he said mockingly.

     Suddenly a great explosion sent Evie flying until she crashed against the opposite wall. The Horned King loomed over her, both his hands encased in dark flames.

     “A shame, really,” he said. “A gorgon would’ve been a great addition to my armies. Maybe an undead one, eh?”

     He pulled one bony hand backwards, the flames growing and twisting in the air like an octopus. Before he could strike a bear tackled him to the side. Percy roared as he kept pushing and throwing the King far from Evie. The bear reared and with a great roar he slashed down at the monster, ripping the front of his robes to shreds. The Horned King doubled back hugging his torso. For a moment, a fire of hope flared to life inside Evie’s heart and she had to fight the urge to look at Mal to see if she was back to normal. But then, the Horned King’s shoulders started to shake and a ragged laugh like steel against stone echoed in her ears. The King stood up and pulled his hands away revealing nothing but a ruined robe. Percy shook himself from his confusion and attacked again, pawing the King with fury but the creature just laughed as if he was enjoying the whole thing and on the fifth blow his hand shot out and grabbed the bear’s paw.

     “You always seem to forget my mist, don’t you?” The Horned King asked and grabbed the bear’s neck with his free hand, tossing Percy to the other side of the room.

     Before he fell, Percy turned into a raven and landed gracefully on the floor. He extended his hand and Poseidon’s Trident came flying to him. Evie took the distraction to swipe her tail at the Horned King. She caught him on the waist and half whipped, half dragged him to crash against the wall. Expertly she pulled her tail away and reared up. She lunged again before he could recover, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him.

     “Haven’t we been over this, already?” he asked.

     “There’s a twist,” she told him before throwing him down against the cauldron.

     Almost as if in sync, Percy shot a beam of green-blue light from the trident making the Horned King fly like a ragdoll. But before he could fly to far he dug his claws on the floor, leaving thin ravines in the stone, and pulled himself up. His scarlet glare almost made Evie cower and his voice was terrible to behold when he snarled something in a language she did not know. But Percy did and his eyes went wide.

     “He’s called his army,” he explained, locking his eyes at the monster. “We have, like, five minutes before this room becomes crowded with his legions.”

     “That’s more than what I need,” Evie hissed.

     She lunged at the Horned King, her fangs barred and dripping venom, her serpents reared and ready. But something caught hold of her and pulled her to the ground. The mist was coiling about her, solid like tentacles, squeezing and chocking her. Percy gave one step forward but a wave of green mist reared besides him grabbing his trident and pulling it away.

     “Hey!” he yelled before a green tentacle grabbed his legs, then his arms and pulled him down in a similar manner.

     The Horned King loomed over them looking quite pleased with himself. He chuckled evilly and with great satisfaction.

     “Right now, I’m basically a god,” he explained nonchalantly. “You would need a miracle to defeat me.”

     The funny thing about miracles is that they happen when you least expect them and in the most curious ways.

     Suddenly the room was filled with "Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" and a blur of orange collided with the Horned King, sending him backwards and headfirst into the cauldron. Tigger flew over the king, rolled on the floor and got up bouncing on his tail completely unfazed.

     "NOOOOO!" the Horned King howled as he fell into the cauldron, his voice echoed through the room long after he had disappeared.

     Immediately, Evie felt the spell break. First the mist disappeared and she felt as if somebody had removed an elephant from her chest. She jolted up and looked at her body; her tail parted into two and turned into legs, her scales turned into soft skin and the taste of venom left her mouth as her teeth receded. Only her hair remained made of snakes but that had been Mal's doing.

     "That'll teach him," Tigger said trying to sound serious but it came out gleeful. He brushed dust off him and tried for wrestler pose as he bounced on his tail. "No funny stuff on my watch!"

     Evie smiled and pulled their gym teacher up for a hug. She gave him a kiss on the top of his head.

     "Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" Mr. Tigger seemed to be blushing. "There's no need ma'am, just doin' my job –"

     He wasn't able to finish because just then Evie heard a groan she would recognize anywhere. She had lost count how many times she had heard it after Mal got tired or hurt during their brawls in the Isle, though she only allowed herself to do so in Evie's presence. And only Evie was allowed to patch her up. She dropped Tigger and spun on her heels. Mal was un-petrified, groggy and unbalanced, leaning on Jay and Chad for support, but she was back to her purple and near translucent beautiful self. Everything caught in Evie's throat at the sight and she speeded off towards Mal, all but blinded by her tears, and tackled her into a bear hug, landing kisses all over her face. Her snakes followed her example.

     "Okay, okay! Ew, Evie, stop it! I'm glad you are okay too."

     Evie pushed the snakes back with the back of her hands but didn't pull her face away, the tip of their noses brushing. Mal's face was red, a colour that suited her much better than grey. Without noticing they intertwined their fingers together.

     "You sacrificed yourself to bring me back." Evie told her breathless.

     "Of course." Mal said. "And I would do it again!" she added forcefully.

     "Even though you knew that defeating the Horned King would suffice to save me." It wasn't a question.

     "Uh..." Mal disentangled one hand to fidget at her hair. Evie was acutely aware how cold her free hand felt. "Yeah."

     Evie gently pulled Mal's hand from her hair and intertwined their fingers again. _Much better_. "And you had no idea whatsoever if me defeating the Horned King would save you."

     Mal took a deep breath, her chest rose and fell. Evie noticed she was planting her feet on the floor like when she was preparing for a fight. She could feel the heat pouring from Mal.

     "That's... yeah, something along those lines."

     Evie stepped even closer, forcing their hands upright, parallel to their chests. She could hear Mal's breathing intensify, she could feel her heartbeat. Their stomachs and chests touched and the act sent lightning bolts and thunders up and down her body.

     "You are an idiot." Evie said after what seemed an eternity. The word _idiot_ came endearingly and softly as if it were the best thing in the world.

     Somebody's heart was so loud Evie could hear it, though she didn't know if it were hers or Mal's or both beating in perfect synchrony. The thought of it being the latter did not help Evie's attention span in the slightest.

     Mal glared at her. "Took you that long to realize it, huh? If caring for you means being an idiot than I'm the world's greatest idiot –" Her eyes widened. "Uh... I mean – no I meant that... did I? Or did it come out different because in my mind –"

     Evie silenced her with a kiss to the lips. Mal tensed and at that moment Evie panicked, almost pulling away. But then she felt Mal's lips contort into a grin and the girl started kissing back. Their fingers somehow intertwined even more as they pulled each other closer. Time seemed to stop, her brain seemed to melt and it was as if a lightning bolt had just struck her body. It was magical, literally. Evie didn't know how to explain but she felt as if they had just unlocked some powerful magic there.

     They would have stayed like that longer, longer than they already had, that is, but suddenly the entire room erupted in one colossal "AWWWW!" Followed by an exaggerated amount of snickering. Mal pulled away, her face as red as a ruby. Embarrassed Mal had to be the cutest thing.

     "Shut up!" she yelled at the crowd that had suddenly formed – or maybe the two had been kissing longer than it felt.

     Evie couldn't help but giggle. She gave Mal's hands a squeeze and kissed her temple. More "AWWWW!" followed. Mal glared at them but did no movement to get away from Evie's embrace.

     "YES!" Carlos yelled. Where had he come from? She was glad to see him, of course, but where had he come from? "I won the bet!"

     "NO!" Jay threw his face against his palms. Then his head shot up. "Wait! No, you didn't! It's November, I won!"

     "Nooooo..." Carlos fell to his knees.

     Evie rose an eyebrow in confusion but Mal crossed her arms and huffed annoyed.

     "I can't believe you guys were betting on the two of us," she said.

     "Yep." Freddie shrug. "I betted January."

     "So far away?" Percy asked.

     Freddie nodded, crossing her arms. "Mal is quite thick."

     "You don't say."

     "Hey!" Mal protested.

     Evie laughed and pressed another kiss to her temple.

     "But seriously guys," she said. "It couldn't have been _that_ obvious."

     "Dude," Ben said pulling a block of money from the pocket of his vest. "Yesterday during lunch you fed Mal strawberries, she actually sucked on your fingers."

     "That was hot." Kuzco piped in.

     Ben paid him no attention. "And last week Mal painted a three meter version of you with a crown and a ribbon underneath written: _'The Fairest and most Intelligent of them All'_."

     "And before that," Jay said as Ben paid him his share. "Mal made those five paintings showing a blue princess in a tower protected by a purple dragon."

     "By the way, was that knight that got toasted supposed to be me?" Chad asked.

     One glare from Mal gave him the answer he needed. The prince promptly hid behind Doug – who for some given reason had his costume and hair covered in frost, his glasses hung sideways on his red nose. Had someone punched him?

     "And _before_ that," Lonnie said, twirling a lock around her index finger, her black and red mask hanging loosely from her other hand. Mal groaned and buried her face on Evie's shoulder. "You get the idea."

     Evie laughed and kissed Mal’s hair. When she felt the girl’s legs buckle a bit, she pulled Mal down to the floor. Evie sat with her back against the wall and made Mal sit beside her, guiding her head to rest over her shoulder.

     “You’ve just been petrified – relax a bit,”

     “I don’t need to relax,” Mal said but it came out more like a whisper and she did not lift her head.

     Around them, people were starting to sit down too, forming their own groups where they discussed what had happened, every now and again they glared in Mal and Percy’s direction. Their friends too had made a semicircle around the girls. Percy leaning on his trident as Skadi fussed him over. Ben loomed right in front of them but had his back turned, his attention on the other kids. Jay and Carlos broke the formation and crumbled beside them.

     “What happened to you?” Evie asked looking at Carlos.

     He had a series of claw and bight marks and his costume was thorn.

     “I was attacked by a big cat,” he told her.

     At that moment Maya, Kuzco and Mallory appeared. The clanswoman seemed on a poor humour but otherwise well. Kuzco also seemed untouched despite the way he cradled his chest as if somebody had punched him. But Maya, like Carlos, had a series of claw and bite marks and ripped clothes.

     “What happened to you?” Evie asked.

     “I was attacked by a werewolf,” she said crumbling to the floor.

     “And you two?” Evie asked.

     Kuzco and Mallory looked at each other.

     “Nothing,” they said in unison.

     At that moment, Dude came running out of nowhere and jumped into Carlo’s lap. His antlers were lopsided and one of his wings had fallen off.

     “Hey guys!” he said. “What did –” he stopped chocking on something and spit out a bit of carrot. “Sorry. What did I miss?”

     Evie laughed and scratched the dog’s head.

     “ _And when we are done I shalt take thee to my keep and we shalt make the beast with two backs!_ ” Jay’s voice echoed besides her.

     She turned around to see a few of her friends huddled around Jay and Jordan, doubling over in laughter as they paid attention to Jordan’s phone screen.

     Jay frowned. “Was that dirty?” he asked Jordan.

     She kissed his nose. “Tell you later.” She looked back at her phone. “This is _so_ going viral!”

     Mal too was laughing, albeit softly, her arms coiling around Evie’s waist. It was only then that Evie saw what Jay was holding.

     “Hmmm… Jay? What are you doing with that dinosaur skull?”

     He looked down at the fossil and then back at Evie.

     “What? Chivalry was a good pet!” he protested. “I’m going to try to get him back!”

     That caught Ben’s attention. The king turned around, his arms crossed and a frown on his brow.

     “Jay.” he said sternly. “You cannot take a fossil home!”

     “Why not? He attacked me and I tamed him, by all intents and purposes he is mine.”

     Chad nodded. “He does have a point, Ben,”

     Ben groaned and face palmed.

     “How do you know it isn’t a girl?” Mal asked.

     “Don’t you dare start with that, Mal,” Jay warned. “Evie, control your woman!”

     Evie smirked. “With pleasure.”

     With a single finger she turned Mal’s chin up and sealed their lips together. Mal’s hand snaked up, her fingers dancing on her cheek, a thumb caressing her cheekbone before flattening them and cupping her cheek with the delicacy of a flower’s petal. Her other hand rested on the front of her shoulder, her thumb caressing her collarbone.

     “A great,” came Art Slade’s voice from above.

     If Mal’s mouth wasn’t so damn delicious and perfect, Evie would’ve locked her jaws and gritted her teeth. When she felt Mal tense, Evie laced one hand in her hair, gently playing with her locks, as the other hand caressed her right arm.

     But Slade wasn’t done. “If it wasn’t enough to simply being freaks now you two are dy –”

     Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ben, who sported a expression that was a mixture of annoyance and exasperation, punch him in the face before he could finish the phrase. Finally, their air supply ended and the two girl’s had to pull away. Evie found a bit more of air to give Mal a peck on the tip of her nose.

     “Thank you, Ben,” Mal said turning to the king and beaming with those emerald eyes of hers.

     Ben tipped his hat as two of Slade’s friends dragged him away. “At your disposal, madams.”

     Suddenly the doors burst open and the many heroes of Auradon came marching in, grim faced and determined; half wore armour and most carried some sort of weapon.

     “Kids!” King Beast proclaimed in his deep voice, leading the heroes. “We’ve come to save you!”

     “Well, you took your time,” Freddie deadpanned before Ally could stop her.

     “A bit late for that,” Mal said dryly.

     “Don’t worry, dad, we’ve solved the problem already.” Ben explained and offered the adults a smile.

     Beast scratched his head. “So… uh… you lot defeated the Horned King all by yourselves?”

     “Under my supervision!” Tigger stated bouncing happily around the king who seemed surprised at the sight of the tiger.

     Ben took a deep breath. “You might want to sit down for this,”

     They took turns telling the story. It was mainly Mal, Ben and Percy telling it though some people cut through to give their own versions. Evie took up Mal’s part after they got to the part where she turned to stone.

     “Let me see if I got this straight,” Fairy Godmother said when the story was over and the other parents had gone to check on their children. “You and Mr. de la Fleur led the counter-attack and then you voluntarily sacrificed yourself to save Evie when you noticed she was in pain?”

     Mal shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much,”

     “Well, Mal, I think you passed Strategy Class and Self-Sacrifice Class.”

     “Those actually exist?”

     “Yes!” The headmistress said brightly. “They are optional.”

     "Oh!" Ben cried. “Fairy Godmother, I almost forgot, you betted November!”

     Mal's head shot up. Fairy Godmother smiled awkwardly and snatched the money from Ben's hands.

     "Uh... Don't bet kids!" she said and ran away.

     “I knew I should’ve gone with my mother’s intuition,” Jane mumbled. Carlos chuckled and threw his arms around her.

     “Is there anybody that wasn’t betting on us?” Mal asked.

     “You.” Jay said. He looked up. “And him.”

     Percy sat in front of them, his arm laced around Skadi’s waist. The girl was beaming, her blue eyes gleaming with joy. Evie tried to remember the last time the girl seemed so happy, and she couldn’t remember any. Nor could she remember the last time Percy had been so happy.

     “It would seem we both got the girl, huh?” Mal asked the demigod.

     “Yes, but I did so much quicker than you.” Percy chuckled.

     In the distance Fairy Godmother and King Beast had been talking in hastened whispers but now Ben had beckoned the two towards them and the duo was walking in their direction.

     “Heads up!” Mal said.

     Percy frowned and sighted when King Beast’s shadow fell on him. Skadi scowled and tightened her embrace. It did not escape Evie’s eyes that the floor around the girl was becoming covered in frost.

     “Yeah, yeah, here,” he said and tossed the trident at the king who caught it with exemplar dexterity. “I’ll be on my way to the Underworld,”

     He started getting up but Skadi grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back down. The air around them became much chillier.

     “No!” she cried. “It is not fair!” She looked at the three. “He warned us. Risked his life to save us. You have no right to tell him where to live!”

     “Yeah!” Mal added, straightening her back, her fingers curling around Evie’s hand. “You forced Percy to take the title. You banished him to the Underworld. He’s no longer a kid! He has the right to breath the fresh air, to chose his destiny. You can’t lock him up in some godforsaken place like you’ve done with so many of us!”

     “That’s right!” Jay said. Evie and Carlos nodded in agreement.

     “It really isn’t fair, mom,” Jane added.

     Percy sighted and lifted his hands for silence. “It’s okay, guys. Some of us have destinies that can’t be changed –”

     “Can I say what I want to say?!” King Beast roared like only he knew how. “Good, god. You start giving all these speeches without even knowing what I was going to say.” he added, banging the trident on the floor and making a raincloud appear above him and start pouring a monsoon. “WHAT THE –”

     Ben sighted as his father started growling and fighting the raincloud. Fairy Godmother shielded one side of her face and stepped away from the puddle that was forming, turning to look at them. She smiled at Percy.

     “We are sorry, Mr. de la Fleur,” she said. “In spite of all the adventures, we, the founders of Auradon, still have a lot to learn. I will not say bringing the villains back was a mistake because, well…” She waved at the VKs and Evie suddenly felt a dread rise in her chest. If the heroes hadn’t committed that act of cruelty then neither she nor Mal nor… Immediately she felt Mal’s fingers curl around her hand and Evie turned to kiss her. It was deep, it was longing, it was a desire for them never to be apart. Pulling away she found that the others had done the same. Jay and Jordan. Carlos and Jane. And even Freddie and Ally, certainly it had been the Wonderland girl that had started it but Freddie seemed to melt into the girl; they were the last to pull apart. Fairy Godmother smiled and cleared her throat. “The gods, Nature, the Universe… they all work in mysterious ways. Why was I tied to Cinderella? That I cannot say but I am glad that it was so. I think that the villains were meant to come back. In which case, you kids were meant to be born. And Ben was meant to release you, and others still. And I think that is an encouraging thought. The future is yours and my heart tells me you all have a part to play in the endless events that are to come. And perhaps your tales will be greater than that of your forbearers – if for good or evil, that I cannot tell; but what should be shall be and there is a balance to maintain. But I think all of you here today play for the light.

     “There must be a Lord of the Underworld, or help us it will fall into chaos. But that Doom is not yours to bear, Percival de la Fleur.” At that, Percy’s head shot up. “No, that is your father’s job – appointed to him after he helped bring Kronos down. And it is his to bear.”

     “So by my decree,” Ben said stepping in. “I declare that Hades will return to the Underworld and you Percy will stay up here.”

     Percy was frozen in place but Skadi screamed with joy and tackled him to the ground with a hug, landing kisses after kisses on his face. All signs of frost were gone. Mal jumped from Evie’s embrace and hugged Ben. Evie got up and did the same, as did Jay and Carlos.

     “You are a great king, Ben,” Mal said.

     Before Ben had a chance to answer, Fairy Godmother went on.

     “Another mistake we made,” she said. “Was banishing magic, something that, truth be told, could never be drowned or forgotten. Magic is a thing of itself with its own laws – it cannot be limited, not truly, anyway. And now it seems that many of our students here in Auradon Prep insist on using magic,” she gave Mal _and_ Jordan a pointy look but smiled. “And so they should. But we find ourselves without a teacher so… what say you, Percival? Do you wish to join our staff?” she had to ruin the speech with that “yes we can” arm wave of hers.

     Percy crossed his arms. “Numbers, please,”

     Ben pulled a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket, scribbled something on it and gave it to Percy. The demigod’s eyes went wide and he shot up onto his feet, eagerly shaking Ben’s hand.

     “It would be my honour, Your Grace,”

     Evie was about to make a mercenary commentary when a sudden shriek echoed in her skull and around the room, like the dying cry of a banshee. A cloud of bright green smoke in the shape of a skull erupted from the cauldron.

     "You thought you could defeat me?!" Yelled a shrill voice from its depths.

     All heads turned to look at the cauldron as skeletal hands grasped the edges and the Horned King's head popped up. He pulled himself up on his elbows, his eyes like dancing scarlet flames burning with rage.

     "I am the Horned King! And I will –"

     Suddenly, one of the windows imploded and a giant hawk flew in, diving at the Horned King. It turned into a big man in mid air, who did a couple of acrobatics and smacked the king upside down the head with a giant fishing hook. For the second time that night, the Horned King fell inside his own cauldron, his screams echoing long after he was gone. The man, who Evie recognized as being Maui, did a perfect flip before hitting the floor and struck a pose.

     "There is no need to thank me humans," he said proudly. "I was just being me."

     Ben cleared his throat. "We weren't going to... I mean we are – but we could've –"

     "Ok, ok, I see what's happening here..."

     By the corner of her eye, Evie saw Percy grab Skadi and bolt out of the room.

 

     Later that night in Mal's and Evie's room...

     "WHAT DO YOU BLOODY MEAN YOU CAN'T REVERSE THE SPELL?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this story.   
> I might continue writing some stories in this AU because it is really fun.


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